Harry Potter and America
by silent rider7
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione get to Hogwarts to see that it is destroyed by a unknown source. The Golden Trio and the rest of the school is sent to America to attend a wizarding school there, what will they discover during this year. Set during fifth year.
1. A new fact about Ron

It was a quiet morning at the Burrow for Harry Potter, of course with the exception of the faint sounds of Ron snoring every now and then. As much as Harry loved to be at the Burrow with the Weasley's he missed Hogwarts. Harry had spent the whole summer with the Weasley's, thankfully avoiding the Dursley's, and he was having a great time. Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny would play Quidditch most days, and even Hermione came to visit for a couple days, which really lighted Harry's mood.

In two days they would be back on the Hogwarts Express for another year, much to Harry's delight. He would get to be back in school without having to worry about the press trying to get an interview about what happened at the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"Ha-Harry? Harry is that you?" a sleepy Ron asked getting up yawning.

"Yeah mate. How did you sleep? I mean you kind of passed out after eating one of Fred and George's new 'candies'."

"Grah!" Ron moaned holding his head. "Fred and George are so dead, I can't believe they fed me that!"

"Ron, they didn't feed you it, they just knew you were going to try to eat it since you can't control yourself when it comes to food. Mate even though I know you passed out from eating them it was quite funny how you ended up landing." Harry stated.

"How did I end up landing?" Ron asked afraid of Harry's answer.

"Well Bill and Fleur came in after their date right when you were falling, and you kind of landed on Fleur on your way down. Your face was all blank and your body was limp dangling in Fleur's arms. Fleur almost barfed on you because you started drooling uncontrollably, but Bill took you from her arms bridal style and brought you up here. Oh! And your mum got in Fred and George's faces for feeding you that 'cursed candy', but they simply said, "How were we supposed to know that little Ronnekins was going to eat the candy?" Harry saw Ron's face going beet red from the unfortunate events that happened that night.

"Well as horrible as that is it's a good thing Hermione wasn't there to see that happen." Ron said getting up to take a shower.

Harry was confused, "what do you mean by that? Hermione has seen plenty of embarrassing stuff happen to you, remember second year and the slugs?" he asked scrunching up his nose getting the image of Ron barfing up slugs out of his head.

Ron chuckled at the memory. "Yeah, well that was then, and I'm older now and come to realize that Hermione is in fact a living breathing…girl." Ron mumbled while playing with a loose strand on his towel.

Harry could not believe what he was hearing. "Ron, what are you saying? Do you like Hermione?" Harry's voice was cracking as he said this.

"Well yeah I do." Ron said a little more confidently. "Ever since the Yule Ball last year. When I saw her on the arm of Viktor Krum. Bloody Bastard!" Ron added. "I got this pang of jealousy in me. When I saw her in those beautiful Blue-."

"Periwinkle." Harry corrected.

"Whatever, _Periwinkle _dress robes, how they flowed down to the ground making her stand out from everyone else in the crowd." Ron reminisced with a goofy smile on his red face.

Harry very well had known how beautiful she looked; he was the first one to see her descend the staircase. Harry, just like Ron, had felt a pang of jealousy towards Viktor Krum being Hermione's date to the ball and all, but at least he got to dance with her, unlike Ron who he now remembered sat sulking through out the whole ball making Padma Patil have the worst night of her life. Harry was still thinking about Hermione when he heard Ron's voice.

"I mean yeah I know Hermione's a plain bookworm. Remember when Rita Skeeter wrote about you two having a secret romance last year? Well I understand that must have been horrible to live with, out of all the girls she could have said, she said Hermione. She could have said someone pretty like Cho, but no she said Hermione. Let me tell you that was pretty hard to live with for me, but I know you would never love Hermione like that so I powered through it." Ron said patting Harry on the back reassuringly.

Harry listened to Ron speak out of respect, but the truth was he didn't mind all the romance gossip there was about him and Hermione, it was probably the only thing Rita wrote that he didn't mid her writing. Harry also was starting to get angry with Ron because of how much he was disrespecting her so he spoke before his fist would throw a temper tantrum. "Well all this talk about our best friend is making me hungry want to come down and get something for breakfast?"

"Of course, you know I think my mum is making eggs and bacon, my favorite!" exclaimed Ron throwing his forgotten towel in a heap on the ground. And Harry thankful he got Ron's mind off a certain curly haired brunette.


	2. Hermione comes

**I got a new chapter up for you to read! Please enjoy! ;)**

Harry and Ron descended the stairs to find the rest of the Weasley's at the table eating. Except Fred and George were not really eating, they were staring at Ron with smirks on their guilty faces.

Ron couldn't take it anymore. "What the bloody hell are you staring at?"

The twins still were smirking at this. "Oh I don't know Ronnekins, how did you sleep? You were pretty tired last night falling all over Fleur in all." George teased mimicking Ron's moves to Fred.

Ron turned Weasley Red. "You guys are so dead! When I'm done with you your going to need help to go to sleep!"

Then Ron started chasing them around the house yelling at the top of his lungs, and Fred and George cracking up the whole time. "What's wrong Ronnekins? Feeling a little slow today? Probably still under the veela trace!" Fred yelled back earning another fit of giggles from the twins and an even (if possible) redder Ron.

Harry watched the exchange for a few minutes before sitting next to Ginny at the table. "G'morning Ginny, what are you up to?" Harry asked leaning over trying to see what she was writing. Before Harry knew it though he got a hard punch on the arm. "What the heck Ginny that hurt!" Harry whined as he rubbed his arm.

"I'm sorry Harry, but you really shouldn't pry into peoples personal lives." Ginny returned sweetly. "But if you must know, I'm writing a letter to Dumbledore asking about schedules for the fourth years."

Harry was confused, "why?"

"Because I'm thinking about trying out for the Quidditch team this year, I mean if I make it, I want to know how it would effect my work schedule." Ginny sounded a little doubtful and she was playing with her food with her finger, so Harry knew she was clearly worried about this.

"Don't worry Ginny, it's not that hard, trust me I've been on the team for five years now, so I've also had to watch everyone who try's out. The exercises are quite simply really, but people always psych themselves out so it always seems harder." Ginny still looked worried so Harry continued. "Ginny I have seen you play Quidditch loads of times over this summer, and trust me when I tell you, you are definitely good enough to make the Gryffindor team. By the way what were you thinking about trying out as?"

"Oh nothing special just a chaser, but even then I don't know because my broom is not as fast as it should be, like yours." Ginny slumped in her seat watching Ron jump on Fred in mid air.

Harry looked at her sympathetically. "Look, Ginny a chaser is a very important position, as much as every other position and you will do great at it. And it doesn't matter what broom you have as long as you got one. It makes sense that I have a faster broom than everyone else because I'm a seeker and that's the position you need to go the fasted on. Plus Sirius gave me the Firebolt so it's special to me."

Ginny looked up at him, "thanks Harry that means a lot to me." She stood up and gave Harry a hug pulling back and blushing. "I be-better give this to Errol before he goes nuts." Ginny said walking away towards the kitchen.

Harry stared at where Ginny left the room when he heard Ron approach behind him panting. "Lo-st th-em at the gar-den." Harry stared at Ron he was sweating profusely and his hair was bright blue, probably from one of the twins.

"Mate, are you going to keep your hair like that all day?" Harry asked holding in his laughter (slightly).

"Wh-what are you talking about Harry?" Harry pointed at his hair then gave Ron a big spoon to look at his reflection. "Great" Ron said sarcastically. "Now look what they did, I swear they won't ever stop! I didn't even realize they hit me with a spell. Harry, do you know any counter spells to change my hair back?" Ron pleaded.

"Sorry mate, Hermione is the spell book she would know, but you're out of luck with me. Ron what are you doing?" Harry asked looking at the shocked face of Ron.

"Oh my gosh I forgot Hermione is coming over today I-I can't let her see me like this!" Ron panicked running up to his room.

Harry shook his head in annoyance, it's not like she hasn't seen him look like a goof before. Harry sighed turning back to his food. Harry watched the twins rolling around in the garden laughing their heads off through the window, he then saw Ginny running towards the 'Quidditch Pitch' red hair bouncing behind her. Then every now and then he would hear a bang, then Ron cursing quite loudly. Harry debated whether he should go help Ron or leave him to his own work, his second option won.

Harry picked up a Daily Prophet up, but before he could read it there was a knock at the door. He looked around for one of the Weasley's to answer it, but nobody else heard it so he walked over to answer it himself.

Before Harry knew what was going on he had a mouth full of hair and a body clinging to him, Harry knew this hug and knew instantly it was Hermione. "Hermione you're here! It's so good to see you!" said Harry holding on back.

"You to Harry!" Hermione said pulling back. "How was your summer?"

"Great, um mostly Quidditch and pranks, but it was very fun." Harry noticed Hermione's school trunk behind her. "May I take your trunk in?" he asked politely.

"Thank you Harry! But I have to worn you it's a bit heavy from all my books."

"Of course it is." Harry laughed picking up her trunk and leading her into the house.

Before Harry could speak again Mrs. Weasley came bustling into the room. "Harry, who was at the do-." Mrs. Weasley noticed Hermione standing next to Harry. "Hermione! You're here! Good now, do you have all your things for Hogwarts dear?" she said giving her a hug and quickly getting to the point.

"Yes Mrs. Weasley I do." Reassured Hermione.

"Good now." Beamed Mrs. Weasley. "Harry be a dear and bring Hermione's things to Ginny's room, would you now."

"Of course Mrs. Weasley." Harry said glancing at Hermione and rolling his eyes, which caused Hermione to silently giggle.

Before Hermione could follow Harry to Ginny's room though Mrs. Weasley pulled her into the kitchen babbling on about something on breakfast. Harry mouth 'I'm sorry' to Hermione before turning to trek up the stairs.

When Harry finally got to the third floor he was pretty tired, and that's when Ron came out from behind him.

"Whose are those?" asked Ron referring to the trunk Harry was holding.

"Hermione's, she just arrived here, not but five minutes ago." Harry noticed that Ron's hair was no longer bright blue but bright orange. "What happened to your hair now?"

"Oh I tried to change it back but this is the closest I could get." Mumbled Ron clearly disappointed. "But that's off subject, where is Hermione?"

Harry inwardly groaned. "She's in the kitchen with your mum."

"Great!" Ron said happily. Ron was about to go down the stairs when he stopped short, "what am I supposed to say to her? Should I hug her? Should I offer her a piece of candy? Harry what should I do?" Ron shouted taking hold of Harry's shoulders causing him to lose his balance.

"I don't know mate, what do you usually do?" Harry asked setting down the trunk.

"I usually insult her, but I've recently realized that's probably not the best way to greet a woman."

Harry groaned wanting to get off the topic, "then don't insult her for once. Ask her how her summer was." Harry wasn't comfortable giving Ron this advice, but he was tired of talking to him so he just said it to get rid of him.

"Thanks Harry I can always count on you." With that Ron turned around and started down the stairs, but not before Harry saw a bald patch on the back of his head. Naturally he couldn't help but laugh.

Harry set Hermione's trunk down on the foot of the extra bed in Ginny's room, and made his way to the kitchen.

The scene Harry saw was priceless. Ron was a babbling idiot, Hermione looked weirded out, and Mrs. Weasley was holding her head in her hand in clear embarrassment.

Hermione looked up at Harry when he entered the kitchen. "Harry!" Hermione then ran up and hugged him whispering in his ear, "Why is Ron acting so weird? And why is his hair bright orange with a bald spot on the back?"

Harry smiled at the look Ron was giving him and Hermione's confusion. "Ron here was the victim of one of Fred and George's pranks, and he tried to fix his hair, but instead he changed it bright orange, and apparently singed the back off." Ron looked very red now.

Hermione giggled. "Oh Ron leave it to you to let this happen." Then she raised her wand and said "_Colovaria!" _and Ron's hair color changed back to normal then the hair started to grow back.

"Blimey Hermione what spell was that?" asked a bewildered Ron.

"It changes ones hair color and/or style." Hermione said in a matter o' fact tone.

"Wow your going to have to teach me that." Said a dreamy eyed Ron.

Harry rolled his eyes Ron was a hopeless flirt.

Mrs. Weasley spoke next. "Hermione dear how about we get Ginny and you two can hang out for a little bit."

"That would be great Mrs. Weasley. See you later Harry." Hermione said then turning around to Ron her smile faltering she said, "Ron." Then she went to follow Mrs. Weasley out into the garden.

The boys watched her go then Ron rounded on Harry. "What the Heck was that all about? Things were going fine until you walked into the room, then she had to hug you."

"Well I'm sorry Ron that I walked into the room. Maybe next time I'll enter under my invisibility cloak."

Ron thought for a second. "That's not such a bad idea… Okay Harry next time you enter a room make sure your wearing your 'cloak' just in case." Ron said nudging Harry's side with his elbow.

"Ron, I'm not going to hide under a invisibility cloak every time I enter a room, that's just pathetic." Harry said crossing his arms.

"Fine then just try not to be a problem." With that said Ron left the room to talk to Fred and George.

**There's chapter 2, I hope you guys liked it, and I would really appreciate it if you review, Thanks!**

**Chapter 3 is coming up soon.**


	3. Spying, the train, and Luna

**Chapter 3 is up! The trio isn't going to get to Hogwarts till Chapter 4 though. I need some ideas of where in America they're going to go, so please review and give me some ideas. Thanks! –SR7**

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"Ron! Stop messing me up, your ruining it!" Yelled Hermione. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were practicing making potions for Snape, and Ron was trying to flirt with Hermione, hopelessly, and Hermione was getting angrier by the second. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Ron. "Ron, I swear mess me up again, and this will be the last thing you will remember." Hermione threatened menacingly. Harry decided to back up to avoid any miss fire.

Ron's face went white and muttered, "I'm sorry Hermione you know how I can't concentrate during potions… I-uh just hoped that you would help me." Ron said hopefully.

Hermione's face lightened a bit. "I'm sorry Ronald, but don't you think you should know this potion by now? I mean we have been doing it since first year." Harry stifled a silent laugh at this.

Ron was at a loss for words, so he emptied his cauldron and stocked off to bed.

"Harry what is his problem? Ever since I got here he's been acting so strange, I mean he has been getting angry every day disappearing into his room, he barely has been talking to you, he hasn't once thrown a insult at me, and he's been asking me a lot of questions about myself, that he should know by now."

Harry thought for a moment and carefully picked out his words so he wouldn't blow Ron's secret, no matter how much he wanted to. "Ron is going through a tough time." Harry slowly said still thinking. "He uh, wanted me to tell you not to worry, he's just a little shaken up by um…." Harry thought for a moment. "Fred and George's prank." He finally decided on. "You know falling on a veela unconscious can… change a person." Harry stuttered, give Hermione a fake smile.

Hermione studied Harry's face clearly knowing Harry wasn't telling her something, she wasn't called brightest witch of her age for nothing. "All right Harry, if that's all I guess I have nothing to stress about, right?" she asked giving Harry her best-defeated face on.

Harry was having trouble looking at Hermione with her looking at him with those chocolate colored puppy dog eyes so instead of telling her the truth Harry backed up towards the stairs. "Well sorry Hermione, but I'm tired we have to go to Hogwarts tomorrow, so we best not be up all night, it would be bad if we didn't make the express, I mean remember second year? Ron and me almost got expelled for driving Mr. Weasley's car to Hogwarts. I don't think we should relive that. Well Good Night Hermione!" Harry said hastily running up the stairs catching one more quick glance at Hermione before he rounded the corner.

Harry ran all the way up to Ron's room panting and killing himself inside for not telling Hermione the truth. When he entered the room he found Ron face down on his bed not moving, that is until he heard Harry.

"Harry! Your back, what took you so long? What did Hermione say? Was she mad? How stupid did I look?" Ron asked panic written all over his face.

"Well Hermione was suspicious of why you have been acting different lately, but don't worry I didn't tell her that you liked her, I had to make a excuse that you were still paranoid about the whole Fleur incident. But Hermione kept looking at me oddly so I know she knows I was lying. Then I ran up here like a idiot." Harry said looking at the more relaxed face of Ron, which suddenly looked mischievous. "What's your problem?" Harry wondered.

"I just had a brilliant idea, but you have to help me with it." Ron said

"What is it?" Harry asked scared of the answer Ron was about to give him.

"We need to spy on Hermione tonight. We're leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow and we're not allowed up into the girls dorm room, so it's now or never." Ron said flatly

Harry was appalled Ron just said that. "No way! Not happening I'm not going to spy on Hermione, it's wrong. Plus what exactly would you want to find out?" Harry asked still staring at Ron with a disgusted look on his face.

"I need to find out what she thinks about me, I mean she's bound to tell Ginny, you know how girls all ways talk." Ron said looking at Harry with eagerness. "We could hide under your invisibility cloak and slip into the room. Trust me I know how to get into Ginny's room without her knowing."

Harry thought for a moment, he was even curious of what Hermione thought of Ron so even though he knew he was going to regret this he finally gave Ron a answer. "Fine, but you have to stay hidden under the cloak with me, and we're not staying for more then ten minutes."

Ron look overjoyed. "Thank you Harry I owe you big time!" Ron exclaimed grabbing the cloak and pushing Harry out of the room.

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"Ow Ron that was my foot!" Harry whispered in pain.

"Sorry mate, this cloak is a little smaller than I remember it being. We haven't had to crouch down slightly before, have we?" asked Ron.

"No we haven't, but shut up, we're here." Harry hissed. "Okay Ron how do we get in without being noticed?"

"There's a key that Fred and George jinxed that allows a person to enter a room without the person inside knowing it. It's actually pretty clever of them if you think about it. I have the key right here, now all you got to do is stick it in the lock whole, unlock the door, and sneak in, but you have to keep the key in or the plan will go down the toilet." Warned Ron handing the key over to Harry.

Harry hated this, as he placed the key in the key whole he got this pang of guilt that over powered his heart. Slowly but surely Harry and Ron walked into the room unbeknownst to the girls.

"Ginny can I ask you a question?" Hermione wondered while her and Ginny packed their belongings.

"Yeah, of course Hermione what do you need?" Ginny replied back

"Well ever since I got here Ron has been acting really strange, like dangerously strange for him. When I tried asking Harry what was wrong he lied to me and said Ron was just acting paranoid." Hermione said sounding a bit hurt. "Then he ran off like he was hiding something. Do you know what that is all about? Harry usually never lies to me and now this all happens. Is there something I should know?"

Harry felt his heart sink from the guilt of lying to his best friend and then heard a quiet scowl from Ron. "How come she seems more worried that you lied to her than me acting all strange all of a sudden?" asked a grumpy Ron in a whisper.

Harry was wondering the same thing, but kept quiet to listen to what Ginny had to say.

"Honestly Hermione I don't know, Ron has only acted weird since you got here, and to tell you the truth I noticed that Harry has been acting a little weird to. Not his usual Quidditch love'n loud self, he's been acting sort of… quiet." Said Ginny surprising her self as she said it, and then continued folding muggle clothes into her trunk.

Hermione thought about this as she put some parchment, ink, and a couple quills into her trunk. "I kind of noticed Harry being quiet to, but you know it still could have something to do with Cedric dying last year, oi, that must have been horrible." Hermione said clutching her heart like it was a safety rope.

Ginny shook her head. "No I don't think so, I agree that would tear me down, but Harry didn't necessarily know Cedric that well, so it couldn't have brought him down that much. I don't know Hermione maybe you did something that made him shut up." Ginny said then shrugged glancing up at Hermione who looked shocked.

"Ginny! I did nothing to Harry, I would never hurt him in anyway, or spread a nasty rumor around about him like that vile Rita Skeeter woman." Hermione defended.

"Humph. You're right, forget I said anything." Sighed Ginny

Harry was listening intently grasping each word like it was another breath of his life.

Then Ron whispered in his ear. "Lets go. Nothing interesting is happening here." He groaned.

Harry didn't want to leave, but he had no choice but to follow since Ron had already started walking. They reached the door and opened in checking back at the girls to make sure they didn't hear anything.

When Harry and Ron made it back to Ron's room Ron started pacing the room very fast and muttering under his breath. But Harry took no notice in him; he just stripped off his clothes and put pajamas on, then he lay on his bed thinking about the conversation between Hermione and Ginny. Was it possible that Hermione didn't like Ron the way he liked her? It sure did sound like that. Harry then fell into a peaceful sleep listening to Ron muttering for a few moments until it was totally silent.

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"KID'S GET UP! DO YOU WANT TO BE LATE AGAIN? ARTHUR GET THE CHILDERENS TRUNKS!" Screamed Molly Weasley.

Harry slit his eyes open and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 10:30 A.M. and Harry showed no movement to get up, nor did Ron. He closed his eyes again hoping to get a few minutes more sleep, but that didn't happen because Fred and George came in and started singing at the top of their lungs the worst song they could think of, and that definitely woke Harry and Ron up.

"Bloody Hell you two save it for the shower!" moaned Ron holding his ears in agony.

"Now George how cute is that our dear little brother is hearing things."

"Awwww! The twins said together teasingly.

Ron then lost it, and threw is box of chocolate frogs at them hitting George on the forehead. "Fine we'll leave, but you should know we're leaving for King's Cross at 10:45 with or without you two, good day then." Fred said motioning for his twin to follow him out the door.

Harry sighed. "Come on Ron get dressed we're going to be late." Harry threw some clothes to Ron.

"So Harry," Ron started while dressing himself. "I hear Ginny is going to try out for the Quidditch team. Going to give her any pointers?" asked a smirking Ron.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked seriously confused.

"You obviously like Ginny, the way you were looking at her last night. W-O-W! Crazy stuff there." He laughed reminiscing.

Harry groaned, when was Ron going to get it through his thick skull that he did not, capital NOT, like Ginny like that. "Mate, you got to let that go, I no way in ever will like Ginny like that, sorry but no."

"You say that now but I know you do." Ron teased.

"Ron, if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all," Harry said as he stormed out of the room forgetting to brush is unruly black hair.

"There you are Harry!" a frantic Molly said coming over to him. "Where's Ron?"

"He's still getting ready." He replied.

"Okay, Harry you get into the car thing. Ginny, Hermione, Fred, and George are already in there. I'll get Ron." Molly told Harry, then going up the stairs in a hurry.

Harry stepped out side to see Arthur Weasley by a Blue Ford Anglia.

"Harry, boy! Come inside hurry we are going to be late!" said Arthur as he pushed Harry inside the seemingly small car, but when Harry went in he saw that the car had expanded to fit everyone from the inside.

He saw Fred and George behind the drivers and passenger's seat, and Hermione and Ginny behind them. "Harry!" Hermione called. "You can sit here." She indicated to the seat that just popped up next to her.

"Thanks Hermione. Um I wanted to say sorry about lying to you last night, about Ron." Harry stammered finally getting the guilt off his chest. "The truth is I can't tell you why Ron is acting weird, he made be swear not to tell anybody, I'm sorry."

"That's alright Harry, I just want to know that you won't ever lie to me again." Hermione sounded sincere and that made Harry feel better.

"Of course, I promise to never lie to you again." Hermione smiled when she heard him say this.

Harry was about to say something else to Hermione when he heard Molly shouting. "RONALD WEASLEY I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T GET UP EARLIER I JUST MIGHT HAVE TO PUT A SPELL ON YOU SO THAT YOU CAN'T SLEEP!" Ron and Molly were running out from the Burrow and Ron was still in his Chundley Cannon pajama bottoms with broomstick all over the place. Once they entered the car Mr. Weasley took off.

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They arrived at King's Cross at 10:57 with only 3 minutes to get to platform 9 ¾ so the race was on. Ron put Ginny on his cart with his trunks and pushed her through the barrier, Fred and George rode on their own carts putting a spell on the cart to push itself, and Harry and Hermione ran for their life through the barrier carrying only their packs while Mr. and Mrs. Weasley got their trunks safely on the train. Just when Harry and Hermione boarded the train, it started to move. Everyone was waving to their parents' goodbye as the train chugged away towards Ireland.

Fred and George went to find their friend Lee Jordan while the Trio plus Ginny found an empty compartment at the end of the train. Ron got a few chuckles from people as they saw his pants, but Ron was too tired to notice them.

When they entered the compartment everyone slouched on their seat tired, Ron decided to take a short nap, but told them to wake him up when the food trolley comes. Hermione would not hear of it though. "Ron at least put your school robes on first so you don't have to worry about them later." She pleaded.

For the first time Ron listened, so Hermione and Ginny stepped out of the compartment so Harry and Ron could change. Once they were ready to go they stepped out of the compartment so the girls could change. While they were waiting they saw Neville waiting outside a compartment a few doors down so they called to him. "Hello Neville. How was your summer?" Harry greeted him.

"Hello Harry, Ron I'm doing good, so is my Gran I guess. Of course you can never really tell once she gets into one of her moods." Neville said heartily.

"Nev, why are you waiting out that compartment?" asked Ron.

"Oh, I'm waiting for Luna Lovegood to change into her robes, she's a fourth year Ravenclaw, but I must worn you she might be a little crazy in the head because she keeps telling me my head is filled with Nargels and Wackspurts- or whatever she said.

At that moment a petite, long blonde hair girl with dreamy looking gray eyes came out of the compartment. "Hello Neville. Hello Harry. Hello Ronald." She greeted them with a smooth singsong voice.

Ron and Harry were confused, "how do you know our names?" asked Ron.

"Well I know Harry of course, it would be kind of silly not to. And the Nargels told me who you were Ronald." She told them happily.

"What are Nargels?" Harry and Ron asked together.

"They are invisible creatures that swarm around people and get into their heads, making them not as smart as they could be." She replied.

Neville looked taken aback, "wait you said my head was filled with Nargels."

"It is true Neville, but don't worry most people have them." She reassured.

Neville was going to reply back when Harry and Ron's compartment door swung open and Hermione and Ginny came out with their school robes all in order. Ginny was the first to speak. "Hello Luna, how are you?"

"Very Good thank you, I suppose yours was good as well?"

"Yes thank you Luna, oh Luna this is my friend Hermione Granger, top of her year at Hogwarts." Ginny bragged for Hermione making her cheeks flush red.

"That is good news, congratulations." Luna replied politely.

Shyly Hermione muttered thanks.

Luna spoke again. "So what do you think we are going to have to do during this year for we will have nowhere to go."

The group was confused about what the girl was talking about. "What do you mean Luna?" Harry asked.

"Didn't you hear? Hogwarts was destroyed last night…"


	4. Hogwarts?

**Here is Chapter 4! I decided to pick California for where they're going to go, thanks to some reviews ****. The American Ministry is in Washington D.C. under the White House, (I know that seems like a long ways away between the two, but their wizards, and I wanted to make the story a little more realistic), and I'm going to use the muggle transportation to get there. NOTE: in my last chapter (3) I said Hogwarts was in Ireland, yeah sorry about that I meant Scotland, but typed Ireland. Anyways please read and Review! –SR7**

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**LAST CHAPTER:**

_Luna: "So what do you think we are going to have to do during this year for we will have nowhere to go."_

_Harry: "What do you mean Luna?"_

_Luna: "Didn't you hear? Hogwarts was destroyed last night…"_

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The group was silent all staring at Luna, and then Harry spoke. "What do you mean Hogwarts was destroyed? It's impossible, nobody can get through the Hogwarts wards, and wouldn't someone inside realize that there was attack on the castle?"

Luna stared at them questioningly. "Didn't you read the Daily Prophet this morning? They had a picture of Hogwarts and everything."

Everyone stayed silent glancing at each other, but Neville spoke up getting everyone's attention. "My Gran cancelled our subscription to the Daily Prophet, said it was full of rubbish ever since they bad mouth Harry last June."

"Same with mum and dad." Ron spoke. "The ministry won't even give dad updates anymore, they act as if he doesn't even work at the ministry."

Harry and Hermione both looked at each other, neither one had subscribed to the Daily Prophet since second year, so they both were totally clueless on the situation, but then Harry remember something. "Ron, a couple days ago when you were chasing Fred and George around I picked up a Daily Prophet off the table, but you just said your family doesn't subscribe there anymore." Everyone then turned his or her heads to Ron and Ginny who both looked indifferent about what Harry just said.

"Yeah we know, we don't subscribe there anymore, but Percy does. Ever since he found out we cancelled our subscription he's been sending us copies every week so that we will 'change our minds.'" Ginny said scowling at the thought of her brother.

Harry took what Ginny just said into consideration since he knew that the Weasley's practically disowned Percy that summer. He glanced over to Hermione who had her thinking face on.

"Luna?" she started. "Why do you read the Prophet, I thought you thought it was full of rubbish to, that's why you write columns in the Quibbler, to speak the truth. What made you think to read the Prophet?" Hermione wondered out loud. Everyone shot their heads back to Luna.

Luna just stared at Hermione sweetly. "Dumbledore sometimes calls my father to give him stories to write in the Quibbler. Dumbledore also mentioned to him that since a lot of Hogwarts students families read the Prophet that he felt it right to inform them to." Hermione nodded fidgeting a bit.

Luna still didn't answer Harry's question about how Hogwarts was destroyed, and by whom, so Harry made a mental note to talk to Dumbledore once they arrived at Hogwarts.

The trio plus Ginny thanked Neville and Luna for their time then returned to their own compartments. Ron all of a sudden wasn't so tired anymore as he paced the tiny compartment floor muttering about Hogwarts. Hermione took out _Hogwarts: A History _and buried her face into the book looking for something. Then Ginny played with her gold and red tie that she had yet to tie around her neck. While Harry sat next to Hermione and closed his eyes not believing any of this to be true, 'how could Dumbledore possible let this happen?'

After a few more minutes of sulking around there was a tap at the compartment window. Everyone looked up, even Hermione who looked irritated, but curious. Hedwig, Harry's snowy white owl was out side tapping on the window with her beak. Ron and Harry went up to the window and lifted the stiff glass up to let Hedwig in.

There was a letter tied to her ankle so Harry carefully untied the string that attached it so he didn't hurt Hedwig. "Ron let me see the 'Bertie Botts every flavored beans' you brought." Ron reluctantly handed over the candy, and Harry searched inside the box taking out a couple of 'owl chow' flavors and feeding it to Hedwig.

"Harry who sent you that letter?" Ginny wondered.

Harry opened up the letter and looked at the bottom, "Dumbledore."

"Well read it!" demanded Hermione. Harry could see the hate in her eyes, but didn't know what it was for so he started reading anyway.

"_Dear Harry,_

_Last night something very unfortunate happened to Hogwarts. All the wards are broken, Hogwarts has big chunks missing from her walls, and I'm thinking someone from the inside helped make this happen. It is not safe to have school at Hogwarts for the time being, for I don't know who betrayed us. My thought on betraying us for Voldemort is very low since he was only re-born last June, and is not strong enough yet. No, I think someone else is trying to get into power, someone other than You-Know-Who. I just don't know whom yet. Please meet me in my office after the feast, to discuss something I cannot put into a letter._

_-A. Dumbledore_

_(P.S. I like Lemon Drops.)"_

Harry looked up to his friends, they all looked as confused as he felt. "What does Dumbledore mean that Voldemort wasn't apart of it? Who else could it possibly be?" Ron asked looking at Hermione for an answer.

"I don't know Ron, but don't go blaming Snape again like you two did in our first year, because I don't think he was apart of it. Dumbledore said someone else may be trying to get into power, but who would that be? To compete against Voldemort for the Dark lord." Hermione said shaking her head as Ron and Ginny winced when she said 'Voldemort.'

Harry thought about what Hermione said. "That makes sense, who wouldn't want to become more powerful than Voldemort? They would control everything, and what better place to start their reign of terror than at the safest wizarding place, other than Gringotts?"

"Well Harry that is true yes, but wouldn't you think that-."

"Anything off the Trolley children?" The cart lady asked interrupting Hermione. Ron bounced up from his seat.

"Do you want anything Harry?"

"No thanks mate, I'm not hungry anymore."

"Suit yourself." Ron said turning back to the old lady. "I'll have six chocolate frogs, a few Chocoballs, Fizzing Wizbees, Bertie Botts every flavored beans, a couple of licorice wands, and some sugar quills." Ron said excitedly getting disgusted faces from everyone else.

"There you go lad, you four have a nice day." She said cheerfully.

When she left, Ron stuffed his face with the candy he got not bothering to take the package off the licorice wands. "Ow! Bloody wrapper!" Ron cursed holding his mouth.

"Serves you right for being a pig." Ginny said scooting away from her brother.

Ron glared at his sister, then turned to Hermione. "So… you come around here often?" Ron asked nervously.

Hermione stared at him weirdly as well as Harry and Ginny. "Ron, are you hitting on me?" Hermione wondered not taking her glare off Ron.

"Hitting…? NO! NO! I'm not I clearly am not actually. For you're over there and I'm over here so I can't reach you." Everyone was still staring at Ron. When Harry spoke.

"Ron you do realize that the term _hitting on me _is a muggle term that means, flirting. Right? It doesn't mean physically hitting."

Ron's face went pale. "No Hermione I'm not, I just thought I would start a conversation other than the one about Hogwarts." Ron made up hoping he would fool Hermione.

"Fine then Ron, but please don't try to make this more awkward than it needs to be." Hermione said taking her book out again. She didn't see the breath of luck that Ron took though. The rest of the train ride went on in an uncomfortable silence. When then train stopped at the station everyone looked up at the castle to see if the rumors were true. Sadly they were, smoke was still coming off of the rooftops, and big holes cratering all over the school.

The trio plus Ginny got into the carriages to take them to Hogwarts, which Harry noticed were now being pulled by skeletal looking horses, but decided he shouldn't ask about them. When they sat down, they saw Draco Malfoy walk passed with his cronies Crabbe and Goyle surprisingly enough they looked sad, looking back at Hogwarts every now and then. Harry thought this strange behavior especially for Malfoy, and decided to corner him later to ask him about it.

Once the carriages started to move Ginny and Hermione started whispering rapidly while Ron and Harry stared at Malfoy in the carriage right in front of them. Malfoy looked like he was about to cry, and Crabbe and Goyle looked no better. This was seriously weirding Harry out on numerous levels.

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In the great hall, everyone was sitting at their respectable tables looking around at the damage. The enchanted ceiling was no longer there but an old rotted ceiling instead. The Window behind the staff table had holes in it like from a curse from someone's wand. The whole scene was rather depressing. Harry was still looking around when McGonagall came in with the first years. Everyone in the Great Hall turned his or her's attention towards them. Harry could see the scared nervous faces of some of the first years, and remembered when he was in first year doing the same thing.

McGonagall took the Sorting Hat off the stool and it started to sing.

_In times of old, when I was new, _

_And Hogwarts barely started, _

_The founders of our noble school _

_Thought never to be parted. _

_United by a common goal, _

_They had the selfsame yearning _

_To make the world's best magic school _

_And pass along their learning. _

_"Together we will build and teach" _

_The four good friends decided. _

_And never did they dream that they _

_Might some day be divided. _

_For were there such friends anywhere _

_As Slytherin and Gryffindor? _

_Unless it was the second pair _

_Unless it was the second pair _

_Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, _

_So how could it have gone so wrong? _

_How could such friendships fail? _

_Why, I was there, so I can tell _

_The whole sad, sorry tale. _

_Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those _

_Whose ancestry's purest." _

_Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose _

_Intelligence is surest" _

_Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those _

_With brave deeds to their name." _

_Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot _

_And treat them just the same." _

_These differences caused little strife _

_When first they came to light. _

_For each of the four founders had _

_A house in which they might _

_Take only those they wanted, so, _

_For instance, Slytherin _

_Took only pure-blood wizards _

_Of great cunning just like him. _

_And only those of sharpest mind _

_Were taught by Ravenclaw _

_While the bravest and the boldest _

_Went to daring Gryffindor. _

_Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest _

_and taught them all she knew, _

_Thus, the Houses and their founders _

_Maintained friendships firm and true. _

_So Hogwarts worked in harmony _

_for several happy years, _

_but then discord crept among us _

_feeding on our faults and fears. _

_The Houses that, like pillars four _

_had once held up our school _

_now turned upon each other and _

_divided, sought to rule. _

_And for a while it seemed the school _

_must meet an early end. _

_what with dueling and with fighting _

_and the clash of friend on friend. _

_And at last there came a morning _

_when old Slytherin departed _

_and though the fighting then died out _

_he left us quite downhearted. _

_And never since the founders four _

_were whittled down to three _

_have the Houses been united _

_as they once were meant to be. _

_And now the Sorting Hat is here _

_and you all know the score: _

_I sort you into Houses _

_because that is what I'm for. _

_But this year I'll go further, _

_listen closely to my song: _

_though condemned I am to split you _

_still I worry that it's wrong, _

_though I must fulfill my duty _

_and must quarter every year _

_still I wonder whether sorting _

_may not bring the end I fear. _

_Oh, know the perils, read the signs, _

_the warning history shows, _

_for our Hogwarts is in danger _

_from external, deadly foes _

_and we must unite inside her _

_or we'll crumble from within _

_I have told you, I have warned you... _

_let the Sorting now begin._

The sorting hat ended its song, leaving everyone in shock from every house and staff member. McGonagall cleared her throat to begin the sorting. She looked on her list, "Abercrombie, Euan."

A shy looking boy with blonde hair came up to the stool, and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. The hat took a minute to decide but finally shouted "Gryffindor!" All the Gryffindor students cheered loudly for their new housemate, which made Euan feel good as he sat by Lavender Brown.

The sorting went on for a while, not as long as usual though probably because parents were afraid of sending their kids to Hogwarts.

During the feast Harry talked to Seamus Finnegan about how his parents didn't want to send him back to Hogwarts this year, but he talked them into it. Ginny talked to Dean Thomas, who looked like he was flirting with her, Ron noticed this and kept butting in on their conversation. Hermione on the other hand played with her food while looking at the staff table examining everyone sitting there. The feast was good; the house elves really went all out this year on the food, which Ron was ecstatic about.

Dumbledore stood up from the staff table and raised his hand for everyone to quiet down; once everyone did he made an announcement, but not his usual one. "Do to the unfortunate situation that has happened to Hogwarts, it is unsafe to continue school here this year. So because of that I have talked to my good friend Mollock Heffner who is the headmaster at the school Duraflame in Los Angeles California. He has agreed to take everyone here into his school for this year, there you will receive the same education, but you will be sorted into different houses according to their rules. Instead of Hogsmead you will go to the boardwalk and you will be expected to behave correctly." Dumbledore said glancing at the Weasley twins. "Now you will spend tonight at Hogwarts then each house will be taken by its head of house to a muggle airport where you will be taken to California. Sixth and Seventh years though will come with me and Professor Goldby our new Defense against the dark arts teacher, to some selective portkeys, for I realized that it is quiet expensive to pay for everyone's trip. Thank you. Oh and Mr. Potter I still need to speak with you, as well as you Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore then sat down; Harry and Draco stared at each other curious, but went back to their dinner.

"We'll wait for you in the common room Harry." Hermione said after the feast.

"Thanks 'Mione. See you guys later." Harry turned and walked away from his friends to Dumbledore's office at a quick pace.

When he got to the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office Malfoy was there waiting for him.

"About time you got here." He snarled. "Dumbledore didn't give me the password when he sent me the letter on the train."

Harry looked at Malfoy then said Lemon Drop to the gargoyle when it moved out of the way Harry and Malfoy went up the stairs till they got to the door. Draco knocked rather loudly and looked at Harry with a worried face Harry wasn't used to seeing. Then they heard Dumbledore.

"Come in…"

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**Another cliffhanger! Wow well how was that? Took a while for me to type, but it turned out good, I think. In the chapter I said the new DADA teacher was someone name Professor Goldby yeah I know it should be Umbridge but personally I hate that woman and she didn't really fit into my story, so just live with it. **

**Note: What do you think I should do? Make Malfoy good, or keep him evil? Please Review and tell me. **** ;) **


	5. Foe turned to Friend

**Chapter 5! :) Thank you those who reviewed this story you're really an inspiration here! Last chapter I asked if Malfoy should be good or not, and I got the most votes to be… YES! That's good, because I have a good idea what I can do with him. Thanks! Please read and review! –SR7**

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Harry and Draco hesitantly opened the door to Dumbledore's office and slowly stumbled in. The office looked just how Harry remembered it being, the walls filled with portraits of former headmasters, the pensive in the corner of the room, Fawkes perched behind Dumbledore's desk, and two rather large chairs that stood facing Dumbledore. The man that called them in was seated behind his desk with a straight face, no smile what so ever, and looking rather impatient.

"You're here, good." Dumbledore greeted. "Lemon drop?"

"No thank you Professor." Harry politely declined. "Why have you called us here?"

"Yeah Dumbledore, what's the big idea here, why is the school destroyed?" Draco snarled. Harry looked at him wondering why Draco sounded like he didn't know about this earlier.

"Listen you two!" Dumbledore shouted, then calming himself down after seeing the shocked faces of his students. "Listen." He said more quietly. "Out of everyone in this school, I have noticed that you two are the most respected, good leaders. Draco, you may be in Slytherin house, but you are no true Slytherin. Which is a good thing." Dumbledore added after seeing the hurt face of Draco. "You have a lot of courage to stand up to the Dark lord as a spy as does your parents. Before you ask Mr. Potter, Draco and his family are not death eaters, they're merely my spies, just like Professor Snape." Dumbledore said before Harry could ask.

"What do you mean you're a spy?" Harry asked harshly.

"My family and I have been spies for Dumbledore for a long time. I only acted wrongly to you so I wouldn't blow my cover. Voldemort hates you, so that means so does all his death eaters, so we had to blend in." Draco told Harry with an ashamed look on his face.

"What about in second year though, your father gave Ginny Tom Riddles diary, that almost killed her." Harry asked not letting Draco go so easily.

Draco was staring daggers at Harry. "My family has never been on the best terms with the Weasley's, but we would never try to kill them, but Voldemort doesn't know that. He gave my father that diary many, many years ago, told him to keep it safe no matter what, then give it to someone who could lure you into the chamber. Then in 1992 when we heard the dark lord was returning we got scared my father had to keep his rank up close to Voldemort, but that meant we might have to kill someone. He gave the diary to Ginny that day at Flourish and Blotts because he thought she might be able to control herself around it. We were wrong, I tried helping her that year, but she was possessed. There was nothing I could do. Luckily you figured out that cursed diary and saved her. I don't know what I would do if I had the conscious of murdering someone in my head." Draco explained looking more ashamed then before, then he finally sat down not being able to hold himself up any longer.

Harry for the first time in his life felt pity for the blonde haired Slytherin. "Dumbledore? Is this all true? Are the Malfoy's actually good people? No offence to you Draco." Draco waved his hand to dismiss the comment.

"Yes Harry it's true. The Malfoy's are really good people." Dumbledore reassured.

"Then why was each one of them put in Slytherin?"

"I asked the sorting hat to do it, special order, it didn't sit well with the sorting hat, but he finally agreed after I told him why. We needed to protect them, but now I fear they are in even worse trouble then before."

"What do mean Dumbledore?" Draco asked rather quickly.

"Now that the dark lord has reborn, it will be harder for your family to remain spies. I warn you, Voldemort will ask you to do some horrible things to prove your loyalty. But I tell you this Draco, stand-your-ground."

Draco lost his temper. "I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE! I'M HURTING TO MANY PEOPLE, EVERYONE HATES ME, AND I DON'T THINK I CAN LIVE LIKE THIS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!" Dumbledore and Harry both looked at Malfoy.

"Mal- I mean Draco." Harry started. "It's going to be okay. Trust me I know what it's like to have someone very evil and powerful out to kill you, but there's not a lot we can do about it, I don't mean to leave your parents in the dark spot, but Dumbledore." Harry said turning to Dumbledore. "Can't Draco 'betray' Voldemort so he doesn't have to live like this, so he can have a little less stressful life? Not that there won't be stress, but just a little less." Draco looked up at Harry with a glimmer of happiness and thankfulness in his eyes.

Dumbledore looked between the two boys, and then got a smile on his face. "I guess, but if you do you will no longer be in Slytherin. Way to dangerous, we will have to place you in one of the other houses. And I'm thinking Gryffindor so you can be close to Harry. You two should make friends, for you both are in the same position now, dangerous, but the same."

"Thank you Dumbledore! I don't know how I can repay you." Draco gleamed.

"No thanks necessary, I'm just glad you are no longer living in darkness." Dumbledore said standing up.

"Wait Professor I have a question." Harry said.

"What would that be Harry?"

"Is this why you called us here?"

"Oh, Bollocks no. Thank you for reminding me Harry." Dumbledore exclaimed sitting back down then motioning both boys to sit.

"Then what's up pops?" Draco asked getting an annoyed glanced from Dumbledore.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I wanted to speak with you two about the destruction of the school. In my letters to you two I said I don't think Voldemort is behind this, and I still mean that. I think there is someone else trying to get into power that is not associated with Voldemort. Who, we don't know exactly. We need a team to get together and solve this. The ministry is taking a team of their choosing, and I am taking a team of my choosing. You two I have chosen as co-team leaders you will need to work together to end this. I will let you bring together a team of your choosing since you probably know who will be valuable and who will be not. I also say this, don't just pick your friends for this team pick people with great skill." Dumbledore said darkly and very seriously. "Like I said in the great hall, everyone will be reorganized in different houses according to Duraflame's rules I have already made sure that you two will be together, but it would also be best if you pick people from other houses. Would you like me to tell you what the houses are?"

Draco and Harry both nodded their heads earnestly.

"The first house is Pueblo house. It is for the Peaceful, but Fierce. The second house is the Serra house for the loyal and curious. The third house is the Apache house for the powerful and quick minded. Lastly the Cortez house is for the brave and the sturdy, but I believe that you two will do well in any of these houses but one stands out to me."

"Which one Professor?" Harry and Draco asked together sounding like Fred and George.

"The Apache house."

"Why?" wondered Draco.

"You both are very powerful wizards capable of defeating any dark wizard, you both have a good mind to you, and very useful in battle I must add. And you both are brave, I realize that is what the Cortez house is for, but it is also for the Apache house just no one says it, they say it already has enough good things coming out of it. Rubbish I know." Dumbledore said looking both boys in the eye. "So gentlemen do we have a deal? Will you to bring together a team and help defeat this wizard whoever it is?"

Harry and Draco both looked at each other then back at Dumbledore, "of course, you can count on us."

Dumbledore looked pleased, "good then, Draco you are welcome to sleep in Gryffindor tower tonight so you don't have to face Slytherin again."

"Thank you Professor. Good night." Draco said as he pulled Harry out of the office.

Harry and Draco started walking to the tower when Harry spoke. "Draco I want to apologize for not believing you, and I'm glad you're on our side."

Draco chuckled. "Yeah well don't expect me to be all goody two shoes, because that will never happen."

"Wouldn't dream of it, mate." Harry replied back, making both of them chuckle.

When they got to the Fat Lady's portrait Harry gave her the password, then he and Draco walked into the Gryffindor common room, which was very busy considering the time of night. Everyone turned their heads to the duo walking into the room and became quiet at the sight of Draco.

"What? The party over?" Draco joked.

"What are you doing her Malfoy?" Ron spat.

Draco got a smirk on his face. "Turns out I'm a new member of Gryffindor house. So live with it Weasleby."

Everyone was still glaring at Draco so Harry stepped in to cover him. "Don't worry guys Malfoy's cool, he isn't really who you all thought he was. Please respect him." Harry pleaded.

Nobody moved, but Harry felt Draco move uncomfortably beside him. Then Hermione came up to them. "Harry has he really changed?" she wanted to know.

"Yes 'Mione he really has."

"Then I believe him. Welcome to Gryffindor Mal-I mean Draco." Hermione said embarrassed by her mishap.

Draco smiled down on the girl. "It's alright, not the first time that happened tonight." Draco said turning to Harry who now found his shoes quite interesting. "Anyway um- Hermione." Malfoy said respectively. "I'm sorry about calling you a mudblood all these years it was wrong and totally uncalled for. Will you ever forgive me?" Draco asked hopefully.

Hermione looked at him then smiled. "Of course I will Draco, thank you."

Draco smiled to, happy that he was gaining some respect from the Gryffindor's, but Ron was scowling at Draco, he was not ready to forgive him, and what was he doing making friends with his two best friends?

Ron slouched in a chair, while Fred and George brought in cases of butter beers. "Cheers to Draco, our newcomer and friend!" they cheered. Some were still sketchy about the whole thing but others brought Draco in like he was an old friend.

"Thanks Hermione, for giving Draco a second chance." Harry told her as they watched Fred and George lift Malfoy on their shoulders cheering.

"Well I figured out of all of us you hated Draco the most, well beside Ron anyway. So I figured you must have a reason to let him in so easily." She said looking up at Harry.

"I do 'Mione and I'll tell you about it over there." Harry pointed to a corner of the room that was the least crowded.

"Okay Harry." Hermione agreed as Harry led her over and explained everything Dumbledore told him and Malfoy, in whispers so they wouldn't be over heard.

By 2:00 in the morning everyone finally started going to bed. Harry led Draco up to the boys' dorm he shared with Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Ron. When they got there, there was another bed placed next to Harry's for Draco. Ron was sitting on his bed in a bad mood; he was polishing his wand and staring Draco down at the same time. Finally Draco couldn't take it anymore.

"Can I help you with something Weasley?" he said rather harshly, but Harry didn't blame him, he would have done the same thing.

"You shouldn't be here Malfoy, you're no good. Harry, why are being all friendly to him? He's the enemy." Ron scowled looking from Harry's bed to Draco's where they were seated.

"Yeah well Weasley not any more, so you might as well get used to the idea of me being Harry's friend." Draco said swiftly. "The poor bloke probably thinks he's strong enough to out do us, Harry." He said to Harry this time, but loud enough for Ron to hear. "In Quidditch, power, and girls." Draco said rather evilly, but couldn't contain his laughter and started rolling around on his bed in hysterics. Draco's laughing was pretty contagious because soon Harry, Neville, Seamus, and Dean were laughing their heads off to.

Ron's ears turned red as he slammed his wand on the bedside table, and then closed the drapes around his four-poster bed.

Harry then decided that Malfoy was a pretty fun person to have around, regarding their past. So as soon as the rest of the room calmed down Seamus, Dean, and Neville all accepted Draco as a friend, and even gave him a Gryffindor scarf to keep, as a welcoming gift.

Everyone went to sleep happy that night, well besides Ron anyway.

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The next morning Harry was the first one up, he looked over at Draco who was sprawled out on the bed sleeping, then the rest of his mates fast asleep, Neville being the quietest. Harry was going to get out of bed when he heard Ron.

"Mate? Can I ask you a question?"

Harry looked over at Ron who was sitting upright in his bed with a sorry expression on his face. "I don't know Ron, are you going to diss Draco? Because if you are I don't want to hear it."

"No, I'm not. I just want to know why you forgave him and why you two are acting like best mates." Ron said.

"Why I forgave him, is a secret, between us and Dumbledore. Why we are acting like such good friends I don't know I guess ever since I found out he's changed we had a connection that was interfered, but when we overcame it, it felt like I've known Draco my whole life, like we could be brothers." Harry said amazing himself at his logic.

"Does Hermione know?" Ron asked with worry evident in his voice.

"Know what?"

"Why you forgave Malfoy, you two always tell each other everything, evening without telling me. I know you two do. It makes me kind of jealous that you two have such a great relationship between each other, and I don't. You and Hermione have lots to talk about between, schoolwork, muggle life, the plan to defeat You-Know-Who, adventures you two have done without me, and just everyday life in general. What Hermione and me have in common is the willingness to bicker with each other constantly. So did you tell her about why you forgave Malfoy?" Ron asked looking at Harry frowning.

Harry looked into Ron's face he couldn't lie to him. "Yes, I told Hermione, but she already forgave Draco, you still haven't." Harry replied getting up and pulling his muggle clothes on then going down into the common room leaving a hurt Ron.

When Harry got into the common room Hermione and Ginny were waiting for him. "Hey Harry, where's Ron?" Hermione asked looking behind Harry trying to see Ron, but obviously he wasn't there.

"Ron's up stairs still, but I don't think-." Harry started, but stopped when he heard a bang, and cursing from up stairs. Harry turned around, where he could see Draco stumbling down the stairs with a gash on his right cheek.

"Bloody maniac attacked me!" Draco shouted. Ginny and Hermione ran up to Draco and calmed him down, then Hermione healed his gash with her wand, but it still left a slight scar.

Then Ron came colliding down the stairs in a heap, but shot right back up looking around frantically then his eyes met Draco's and narrowed. "Bloody idiot! Why are you trying to make an embarrassment out of me?" Ron shouted rounding on Draco, but Harry caught Ron and held him back. Then Neville, Seamus, and Dean came to help hold Ron and Draco back.

"I'm not making you look embarrassing, your doing that all by yourself." Draco said hysterically.

Ron tried to make another go for Draco, but he was no match for Harry and Dean. "Why are you stealing my best friends, your supposed to be the enemy you can't just waltz in here after a life time of evil and just expect people to forgive you, but clearly you brainwashed every one here!" Ron snarled.

Draco kept his eyes level then relaxed giving Seamus and Neville a much easier time holding him back. "Your right Weasley, someone can't just waltz right in and expect everyone to forgive them after a life time of wrong, but let me tell you something." Draco calmly said taking a few steps towards Ron. "It just so happens that I was never evil in the first place, just acted evil so I could do my job without me or my family getting killed in the process."

"What are talking about?" Ron spat.

"I've been playing a little double agent." Draco said quietly making sure nobody but that group could hear. "For Dumbledore and Voldemort. Except I was always truly on Dumbledore's side, same thing with Snape I bet you always thought we was a death eater, huh, well it's not true he really is a good guy."

Ron calmed down a bit, "you might have changed, but don't expect me to forgive you right away." Then Ron stormed out of the portrait hole in a huff.

"Wow so glad that's over!" Draco cheered happily. "So guys how bout some breakfast?" Draco asked pushing all of his new friends towards the portrait hole.

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**There you go! Chapter 5! So how was that? Please review and tell me. I want to know how you think I'm doing so far. Thanks! –SR7 **


	6. The plane and Duraflame

**Chapter 6! :) Thank you for your reviews; I was asked when they were going to get to Duraflame. Well it's this chapter sorry if I made you think it was the last chapter. I felt I should explain the whole situation before I rushed into things, but oh well! Anyway please read and review. –SR7 **

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The group was making their way down to the great hall and Draco was talking his head off and laughing with the group. Harry noticed this is the happiest he's ever seen Draco in his life, and Harry was pleased he was his friend now, considering what Draco could be still.

They walked into the great hall where everyone turned their heads towards the group, some of the Slytherin's even stood up so they could fit Draco into one of the spots at the Slytherin table, but were surprised when he followed Harry to the Gryffindor table. Ron was sitting with an annoyed looking Lavender and Parvati who were trying to scooch away from Ron, but he would keep talking to them so they were stuck.

"So Dean." Draco started getting Harry's attention back to the group. "Your half muggle and half wizard, right?" Dean nodded in agreement not sure where this was going. "Well truth is I'm a little curious with the muggle way of life, and since we are going to have to act like muggles for a short while I want to know what to do."

Dean beamed at Draco for his question. "Of course! I mean you can also ask Harry and Hermione to because Hermione is half and half then Harry grew up in a muggle environment, but if you want to know about sports in the muggle world then you have to know about futeball, or in America, they call it soccer, anyway its this great sport where…" Dean babbled at a serious Draco who was trying to understand what Dean was saying.

As they were talking about the muggle world, or mainly soccer, Harry and Hermione talked. "So Harry have you ever been to America before?" she asked curiously.

Harry looked at her sadly. "No, the Dursley's never took me anywhere, and when they did. I was usually thrown into the trunk of the car or brought along with uncle Vernon keeping my head in his jumper. What about you Mione?" but before Hermione answered she threw her arms around his neck hugging the breath out of him. Harry looked over at Draco who was giving him a 'thumbs up' and a goofy smile, and then Harry slightly turned his head in Ron's direction, which he could see him glaring, and scowling at him.

"Oh Harry!" Hermione said sadly, but sincerely. "I'm so sorry I can't believe those horrible people did that to you! It's child abuse." Hermione said pulling away and looking into his eyes.

Harry gave her a small smile. "Thanks Mione, but you still haven't answered my question. Have you been to America or not?" Harry said playfully making her turn away to blush, but Ginny pushed her back to face Harry.

"Yeah, um, I'm sorry. No I haven't been to America yet, but I have done a lot of research on it, and it seems like a perfect place to go. So exciting, and it's a free country, with rights that England doesn't have so I'm looking forward to that. The history is quite fascinating to, with the first settlements, to the civil war, the Oregon Trail, Ellis Island, to so much more. Truthfully after I'm done with Hogwarts, I wouldn't mind moving there, it seems like the perfect place for me to live." Hermione said with excitement in her eyes, that Harry enjoyed seeing.

As Hermione babbled on about her research for America Harry noticed Draco across from him staring at him smiling, and looking between him and Hermione. Harry tried to ignore this and he did, but then Ron came up. Which made both him and Draco stand up in defensive positions with their hands on their wands.

"Calm down! Sheesh! I just want to speak with Hermione for a second, she's my friend to you know." Ron said holding up his hands and trying to avoid Draco's wand that was pointed at his neck.

"Why?" Draco snapped. "You have no business talking with her, especially with how you've been acting." Draco said darkly, which got the attention of the whole great hall, who were now looking at the scene with the two most powerful young wizards at Hogwarts holding their wands, and the youngest male Weasley.

Hermione smiled at Harry and Draco who were defending her. Then Harry took his hand and brought Hermione behind him so she would be protected. Then Ron did a very stupid thing, he drew his wand out and pointed it at Draco. Draco and Harry started to laugh making Ron go red. "Oh come on Weasleby! You really want to try something that stupid? You do realize me and Harry can blast you into the Forbidden Forest from here, right?" The hall was watching with intensity wondering what would happen next, even the staff was watching, with great curiosity.

"I'm not playing Draco! If I win I get to talk to Hermione without you harassing me, and if you win, I'll where the frilliest tutu I can find and where it around Duraflame, all day." Ron said keeping his wand up. Draco looked at Harry, and then lazily walked to the center of the isle to where Ron was and took his beginning stance.

"I accept your challenge, any spell or curse, except unforgivable, if either one of us does a unforgivable they have to willingly go to Azkaban. Agreed?" Draco asked raising his wand.

"Agreed."

Then the duel started, both men bowed to each other and walked the correct distance away.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Draco shouted first, but Ron quickly said Protego and the spell hit the ceiling instead, but Draco didn't look worried.

"_Furnunculus!" _Ron shouted, but it did nothing, as Draco lazily flicked the spell away with his wand.

Then Draco smirked glancing at the Gryffindor's, then shouted his spell. _"STUPEFY!" _Ron had no time to react as the spell hurtled toward him at a great pace. The spell knocked him off his feet and into Dumbledore's podium in front of the staff table. Ron cursed out loud, but couldn't do anything more as his leg broke when he crashed. Madam Pomfrey then levitated Ron out of the room up to the hospital wing.

"Got 'r done." Draco said trying to use an American accent and twirling his wand around in his fingers. Everyone in the great hall erupted in applause at the amazing use and power of magic Draco had preformed.

"That was really nice of you two, but I'm a little curious why you both looked like you wanted to murder Ron when he came to talk to me." Hermione asked Harry and Draco when they were in the Gryffindor common room waiting for their trunks to be taken by the house elves.

Harry and Draco looked at each other neither one of them knew why the other had been so defensive, except Draco had a little more better idea then Harry had. "You know what Hermione," Draco said putting his arm around her and trying his best not to laugh at the unusual action that he never pictured himself doing. "Me and Harry care about you a lot. You're our friend and technically Ron is a git. So we were just trying to protect you, from a foul loathsome creature that has no business being near you, and now we get to watch that git prance around in a tutu in a different country." Draco added laughing with Harry.

Hermione smiled but didn't laugh with the boys. Soon the rest of their friends came down into the common room and they set out to the Quidditch pitch where the Gryffindor's were to leave for the airport. On their way they made sure to say goodbye to Nearly Headless Nick, the fat lady, Sir Cadogan, and even Peeves. When they made their way to the pitch they saw Ron walking fine now (since madam Pomfrey healed him) with another Gryffindor boy, who was a year ahead of them, a boy that Hermione said was named Gavin Gregor, a pureblood Hermione sometimes sees in the library. Gavin had a perfect face with perfect features; he had blonde hair and blue eyes, something the Nazi's would have gone crazy for if they lived during that time. Gavin was a little taller than Ron and according to Hermione; he is best in his year.

Harry, Draco, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Ginny all looked closely at Gavin and could have sworn they had never seen him before in their lives, and so they followed behind Gavin and Ron 'nonchalantly' listening to their conversation. (Gavin and Ron had not noticed the seven friends behind them yet. "…You sure your in on this with me Gavin? I mean 100% sure? Because if your not committed I can leave you stranded you know, right?" Ron whispered to Gavin who was rolling his eyes.

"Don't worry Ron I'm committed to this, but its best we not talk about this right now. To many people can overhear." Gavin said looking around except for behind him. Harry was starting to wonder if Gavin was as dumb as Ron was when it came to his surroundings, for neither one had noticed the seven walking behind them yet.

When everyone actually got on the Quidditch pitch McGonagall told everyone to get into a group of four or five. Harry, Draco, Hermione, and Neville were all a group while Seamus, Dean, Ginny, Lavender, and Parvati were all a group. Harry noticed Ron get into a group with Gavin and a couple other sixth years. Then he turned back to McGonagall who started speaking again.

"Alright since everyone is in a group, I will pass around your portkeys that will take you to the airport in London. Once I have given you one please wait with it until I have finished passing them out to all the groups. Once we are all ready with our portkeys choose one person from your group to cast the spell to activate the portkey. The spell is _portus."_ McGonagall then started passing out random things to each group. Harry's group got a soccer ball that Draco took and started showing off to Dean who was jealous of them because they got the soccer ball and his group got a tuba.

"Harry how about you do the spell, you are the only one here who has traveled by portkey anywhere, so you probably be best at it." Neville said taking the ball from Draco who was still dancing with the ball in front of Dean who looked annoyed. Harry cringed at the thought of the last time he traveled by portkey, by accident, but he took the ball anyway knowing he probably should.

"Alright! On the count of three have your chosen person cast the spell and say Heathrow Airport loud and clear! Make sure everyone is touching your item. When you and your group has landed please wait until everyone has gotten there." McGonagall shouted as she to was touching her portkey, which she shared with Fred, George, and Lee.

Draco chuckled turning back towards the group and staring at Harry. "The Chosen One, how appropriate." Harry chuckled to as well as Neville and Hermione.

"Alright one… two… three!" McGonagall shouted. Then there were about fifteen other shouts of _portus _in the air.

As soon as Harry said the spell and the location the ball whisked them away to Heathrow Airport, where everyone felt dizzy from the high-speed pull. Hermione fell over but Harry caught her just before she hit the cement. She looked up at him with a look of gratefulness in her eyes. "Thank you Harry."

"No Problem Hermione." Harry replied back letting go of her, and seeing Draco give him a drunken looking nod of approval.

As soon as Harry realized where he was the other groups appeared around them, all looking sick, and now cramped since they were in a small Alley probably located on the side of Heathrow. McGonagall quieted everybody down to explain the rules. "Everyone is to have at least one muggle born in their group to show the other non muggle borns how to get through security and onto the plane. Which I can see now." McGonagall said looking around at each group. "Everyone does have at least one, so we shall be off now. Please leave your portkeys here, for they will be no use to us anymore."

Harry was about to throw the soccer ball down when Dean grabbed it from his hands and started stroking the ball with his hand. "This ball is still useful, and it's easy to get through security so it will not be thrown out!" Dean snapped, as he went back to his own group.

Harry looked shocked, and Draco started laughing as Neville pushed Harry along. The foursome had no trouble getting through security since they had no bags to check because everyone's things were being taken with Dumbledore, Professor Goldby and the sixth and seventh years. (Sixth years had the option of going with their house or with Dumbledore.)

Since Harry and his group was the first one's to make it through, McGonagall rewarded them with first class tickets. There were only a few groups left to get through security. Ron's group being one of them, but what happened next almost ruined everything.

The machine beeped and the head of security came out to where Ron was looking scared. "What is it Luis?" He said in a gruff, mean voice.

"This boy here has a weapon, if I'm not mistaken." The bag checker by the name of Luis told the head of security.

"What weapon would that be?" He asked glaring at Ron with menacing eyes.

Luis went behind Ron and pulled out his wand from his back pocket. Everyone was holding their breaths, and then McGonagall came hurrying over to help. Luis held the wand up to the man. "This sir attracted the metal detector. Looks dangerous, huh?" Luis prodded.

McGonagall started speaking quiet quickly to the man in her thick Scottish accent. "Please sir, this boy just has a souvenir that he got from a antique store, it is worthless really." She lied as the man stared at her and wondered why she was dressed weird, for the staff members didn't change out of their robes.

"We will have to get this check madam I'm sorry but you will have to wait till after it is examined." Then the man turned away to a nearby room and shut the door behind him.

McGonagall was furious, and started whispering to Ron so the muggles couldn't hear. "Ronald Weasley I thought you were told to put a charm on your wand to make it invisible to muggles and to their such devices!"

Ron was trembling. "I'm sorry professor."

"Sorry isn't going to get you anywhere with the ministry, so I would put a sock in it if I were you Mr. Weasley and actually think next time!" Ron lowered his head in shame as McGonagall told everyone to get on the plane so they didn't have to wait around for them.

Harry and his group started walking out to the plane looking behind him one last time at Ron who was still getting told off by their very mad professor.

The foursome showed the flight attendant their first class tickets and she let them on to a nice looking room in the front of the plane with nice comfy leather seats, footrests, a big television screen in the front, and a cocktail drink in each of the seats cup holders.

Draco's eyes lit up. "I love this place!" he exclaimed diving into one of the seats and grabbing a drink, he tasted it. "Hmmm, fruity!" he decided on.

Soon McGonagall, Fred, George, and Lee all came in to. "Hey guys!" George greeted with a smile.

"What are you guys doing here?" Neville wondered.

"It was one of the many perks of being in professor McGonagall's group." Fred replied looking at the woman who was currently downing a drink.

"Professor? What did the head of security do with Ron's wand?" Harry asked looking over Hermione who was sitting next to him.

McGonagall groaned. "It was a nightmare! The muggles were suspicious so I had to cast a memory charm on them then had to escape out of there before anyone could ask any questions. Mr. Weasley got his wand back but I put blocks on his magic in his wand so that he cannot do more then the magic in his lessons for the day, and its going to last for at least two weeks."

"Awesome, up top Professor!" Draco said in his American accent. As well as Fred and George.

Harry laughed at the tempting look in McGonagall's eye, but she refused saying it wouldn't be right, but she did look disappointed in her decision after the twins and Draco put their hands down.

For the rest of the plane ride the two groups ate gourmet dishes and watched American movies, something the purebloods in the cabin were quite fascinated with. They all also laughed and joked around getting McGonagall in on the fun when Fred and George took out some of their prank stuff.

Before they knew it the plane had landed in Los Angeles California. Harry was stunned at how beautiful and tropical it looked. Hermione smiled at the look on Harry's face when she saw him look at the palm trees. Hermione scooted closer to Harry to look out the small window of the plane. When Harry noticed this he felt the hairs stand on the back of his neck and his cheeks getting hot.

Finally the pilot said it was all right to get off the plane now, so Harry jumped up taking Hermione's hand and raced through the tunnel to get on the actual platform of the airport. They looked around at the not so crowded air port that Heathrow had been and dragging Hermione to Ginny's group who had gotten off before them. The others following behind them laughing at Harry's enthusiasm.

"Where were you guys?" Ginny asked when the two groups reached them.

"First class!" Fred, George, and Draco said lifting up their hands gloating. Ginny scowled at their behavior, but grabbed Harry's and Hermione's hands taking them to the rest of Gryffindor house, the others again following behind them.

"Alright students!" McGonagall said getting back into professor mode. "We will be portkeying again, but this time to Duraflame." Everyone cheered in excitement as she passed around books this time that had been shrunken in her bag. "You all know the drill on the count of three!"

Harry's group all took hold of their book and Harry put his wand on it waiting for McGonagall to give the signal.

"One… two… three!"

"_Portus!"_ the Chosen people shouted.

Soon everyone was standing outside an old Victorian looking castle with many high towers, and miles and miles of land all around them. The Pacific Ocean was a mile from where they were all standing, from the grassy hill Duraflame lay, a Quidditch pitch in the distance far nicer then Hogwarts and had a lot more spectator seats. Then the boardwalk Dumbledore mentioned was to the right of them lights shining and smoke billowing up from the chimney to make a misty scene added to the already purple sky. Harry looked down at Hermione, she looked so happy, and radiant in the light.

Then the other houses came, Hufflepuff being last. Everyone gathered around the two new people added to the students. Headmaster Dumbledore and Headmaster Heffner were waiting with big smiles on their faces. "Welcome Hogwarts students to Duraflame!" Heffner greeted. Murmurs of hello could be heard throughout the crowd. "We at Duraflame heard about your situation, and as always glad to help. Please follow me to the Dinner hall to get you all sorted into your new houses." Heffner said ushering the large group of students into the castle. Harry's group was in the back so when Heffner saw Harry his eyes went wide. "You-your Harry Potter! Oh my Gosh it's a great pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter, we at Duraflame are big fans of you, but out of respect I have asked the students not to act all weird around you. Like you probably get in London sometimes, right?" Heffner asked with wide eyes. Harry looked at Heffner then his friends.

"Thank you professor, that means a lot." Harry started then Draco cut in.

"So Professor, what about me? I guess I could be kind of famous to right?" Draco asked making himself blush, but that quickly faded when Heffner asked who he was.

"Bloody place obviously doesn't know what they're talking about." Draco muttered following the group into the castle."

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**Ta-da! There is chapter 6. Sorry for the wait, my computer has been acting crappy and lost my document twice so I finally got it up! (YES!) I'm American so using these British words are new to me so forgive me if I mess up on it sometimes. Soooo Anywho… Please review and tell me what you think of Gavin and what role he is going to play. I want to know what you think. Thanks! –SR7**


	7. The Apache's

**Thank you for the reviews they help a lot when I'm writing. I know I'm not posting as often as usual, but posting that often is hard with all my homework and other stuff, so don't expect a new chapter everyday. This chapter will be posted, and then this week I'm going on a trip where they don't have Internet access so I probably won't post till maybe Friday or Saturday. Anyway last chapter I asked what you guys thought of Gavin, and so far most of you think he is a weirdo :). Good. Gavin is supposed to be weird, but he is smart and handsome, and just a little dim witted (he is hanging around Ron after all). In this chapter there will be a little surprise with the characters, so don't hate me after this, this is not permanent just temporary. Please Enjoy! –SR7**

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Harry's group climbed the steps that led inside Duraflame. The columns rose high, and transparent lilac drapes billowed over the windows and walls making the inside look haunted, but elegant. The doors to the Dinner Hall lay open revealing a full scene. Like Hogwarts there was four tables each representing each house, a staff table that unlike Hogwarts, curved into a half circle. Balls of light floated around the ceiling lighting up the Hall, this caught Hermione's attention since it reminded her of Hogwarts so when Harry saw the sad look on her face he put his arm protectively around her, Draco and Neville stood closely, eyes on alert. Instead of black robes with the Hogwarts crest and your house name patched on, the students of Duraflame were wearing four different colors, a color for each house. Harry couldn't tell what house was what just that the colors were blue, purple, red, and dark green. The students were also very tan, something that the Hogwarts students were not.

Harry was brought out of his thoughts when Heffner rounded up all the Hogwarts students in two lines going down the aisle. Harry stood next to Hermione with Draco and Neville behind him, and Cho and Terry Boot in the front of him. Heffner then started explaining the rules.

"Welcome Hogwarts! We at Duraflame are so pleased to have you here, and before we sort you into your houses I would like to tell you some rules." Heffner said putting the _sonorus _charm on himself. "First, you are only allowed down at the beach on weekends, and the boardwalk, or as the staff here likes to call 'Pastime Entertainment.' You are only allowed there on the appointed weekends. Your curfew is 11:00, whoever is caught outside their house by this time will get punished." Heffner warned not noticing the looks Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Neville were giving each other. "No fighting is tolerated with or without wands. There will also be a Quidditch team for each house that you may try out for, but its only third year and up. On that note I think we can start the sorting. Please begin Professor Pore." Heffner said motioning over a middle aged man with sandy brown hair and dark brown eyes he kind of reminded Harry of Lupin.

"Thank you Headmaster Heffner." Professor Pore thanked smiling while Heffner sat down returning the smile. "Lets begin students!" Pore boomed getting everyone's attention. Pore went through each name Ron, Ginny, Colin Creevey, and a few other Hogwarts students got into Cortez house so they went to sit at the table filled with dark green robed students cheering. Luna, Lavender, Parvati, Blaise, Hannah, Lee, and again some more Hogwarts students got into Serra house when they were announced a sea of purple robed students cheered for them welcoming them in gratefully. Many students got into the Pueblo house including Neville, Seamus, and Dean who slowly made their way to the blue covered table looking back sad they didn't make it with Harry, Hermione, and Draco.

Hermione was sad, she lost Ginny to the Cortez house, some friends to Serra, and now the Pueblo house. There were only a couple students left Harry, Hermione, Draco, Fred, George, Cho, and Gavin. Pore spoke making sure what he saw on his list was true. "Harry Potter?" The whole Hall went quiet then it burst out in noise, something about the boy-who-lived actually in their school.

"QUIET!" Heffner boomed quieting the whole Hall in an instant. "Please continue Professor Pore." He sighed falling back down into his chair.

"Right then um-Harry Potter please come up." Pore said. Harry casually walked up to Professor Pore and the sorting locket that you had to put on instead of the sorting hat.

Harry took the locket from Pore and put over is head. It started speaking, but nobody but Harry could hear it. "Harry Potter. It's a pleasure, I never thought in my lifetime I would get to sort you well then I think I know where to put you exactly." The locket stopped speaking then shouted "Apache!" so everyone could hear. The students from Apache roared with applause then chanted _we got Potter!_ Like Fred and George did when Harry was sorted into Gryffindor.

Harry smiled and walked over to the table to the cheering students all trying to shake his hand, but a boy stopped them from clobbering him. "Dudes get back! Give the man some room! Geez!" the boy said sitting down next to Harry so he could block him from the people. "Sorry 'bout them, this is a huge honor for them to meet THE Harry Potter, so I would try to get used to it for a while." The boy had short blonde hair in the shape of a foe hawk, blue eyes, and muscular structure.

"Thanks mate." Harry said.

"No prob! By the way the name is Cody Beck. Fifth year here, what's your year?" Cody asked. Harry looked at Cody and his eager face that also showed kindness.

"I'm in fifth year also, I actu-." Harry started, but was cut off by someone hugging him from behind.

"Whoa dude! Bit of a ladies man aren't ya?" Cody asked smiling at the girl.

Harry was confused so his turned his head slightly to see who was behind him. "Hermione! Don't scare me like that." Harry said as Hermione took her arms off of him.

"Sorry Harry, but can you believe it, we're in the same house!" She said with a huge smile on her face.

There was a cough and Harry turned to Cody who was staring at him. "Oh sorry, Hermione this is Cody Beck. Cody this is Hermione Granger." Harry introduced as Hermione and Cody shook hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Hermione." Cody said also nodding.

"You to!" Hermione returned.

"So Harry your going to be in my dorm room, don't worry I'll show you both around the school, its rather big and easy to get lost in. Good thing tomorrow is Saturday, so there are no classes to worry about getting to." Cody offered.

"Thanks that would be nice. What about you 'Mione?" Harry asked waiting for her answer.

"Yeah that would be good, but you might want to bring Draco along to or he might feel left out." Hermione said sounding worried.

"Why would I feel left out?" Draco asked walking up to the Apache table only hearing what Hermione had said.

"Oh!" Hermione jumped in her seat at the sound of Draco's voice. "Cody here offered to show us around Duraflame tomorrow, so we can get to know the school better." Hermione said calming herself down.

Draco smiled down at her then looked up to Harry and Cody. " Thanks mate would appreciate it." Draco said holding out his hand for Cody to shake. "Oh and Cody." Draco said getting low so only they could hear. "Don't get to friendly with that red headed git that was sorted into Cortez."

Cody looked over at the table. "The girl or the dude?"

"The du-ude." Draco said trying to use his accent. "Which reminds me." Draco said standing up onto the bench ignoring the curious glances he was getting from his friends. "CAN A RONALD WEASLEY PLEASE STAND UP?" Draco shouted shutting up the whole hall. Ron hesitantly stood up trying to fight off the stares he and Draco were getting. "I DO BELIEVE YOU WEASLEY NEED TO FULLFIL OUR BET!" Draco said motioning for Ron to come closer. "SINCE YOU LOST OUR LITTLE DUEL REMEMBER WHAT YOU SAID YOU WOULD DO ONCE YOU GOT HERE?" Draco asked evilly, Ron's face turned pale looking at Hermione and Harry for support, but really how much help would they be?

"FINE MALFOY LETS JUST GET THIS OVER WITH!" Ron shouted back walking up to him holding out his arms so he was an easy target.

Draco smirked and transfigured Ron's muggle clothes into a pink sparkly fairy princess leotard and tutu complete with a pink crown. Ron felt sick everyone was laughing, and all he could do was stand there, watching it all. Draco was laughing his head off. Harry and Cody were chuckling at the scene, but he noticed Hermione looking at him with sympathy. Ron stocked over back to Cortez table to sit next to his sister again, tears in his eyes.

The rest of the feast went on much more smoothly Gavin, Cho, Fred, and George also were sorted into Apache, and were all sitting with Harry, Hermione, and Draco. Harry would look up every now and then to stare at Gavin who was talking with another Apache student. _Gavin is so weird, what's his problem?_ Harry kept wondering to himself.

That night after the feast Cody led the group of Hogwarts students to the Apache common room which was on the fifth floor in-between the secret portrait hole to the Quidditch field and the way the guest rooms. Apache's portrait hole was of an Indian warrior chief that everyone named chief wan. Cody said the password, "Hogwartians."

Harry and Draco looked at each other and Cody noticed. "I know that might seem weird, but we don't pick the passwords and it just so happens professor Heffner is a huge fan of Hogwarts so when he agreed to you people coming he changed our password to this. But we're not weird or anything." Cody reassured after the looks the Hogwarts students were giving him. "Anyway, this way now." Cody then led them in.

The room was nothing like a Hogwarts room. All the furniture was updated to look all bubbly with the theme being red, white, black, and clear. A spiral staircase led up to the dorm rooms while the common room had several couches, desks, a few secluded areas, which Cody said were Defense practice corners, and a big fireplace giving the room a certain mystical glow.

The students were in awe. Harry had to admit that this was a pretty spiffy common room, but one thing was missing, Hermione. "Hey Draco have you seen Hermione? I thought she was following us up here." Draco looked around suddenly worried.

"Mate you don't think Ron would…" Draco wondered.

"Bloody hell…"

"Harry we need to find her now. Where's Cody? He needs to help us. Cody!" Draco shouted frantically trying to find the blonde haired Apache. "Cody! You need to help us! Hermione isn't here we think that git Ron got a hold of her. Please help us find her!" Draco pleaded going on his knees in front of him.

Cody looked at the clock it read 10:00. "Okay dudes, but we only have an hour so if we're going to find her we need to do it now."

"THANK YOU!" Harry and Draco both let out relived that they had help on this.

"This way." Cody pointed towards the portrait hole then they exited. "So the first place I would look is along the way to the Dinner Hall or the way to the Cortez house. Don't worry I know the way to their house, not many do but your lucky you got me. Lets go gents!" Cody steered them into the direction of the way back to the hall, but no one was there so they tried the way to the Cortez house.

"Cody, how do you know where the house is?" Harry asked.

He laughed lightly. "I'm a bit of a rule breaker. I usually snoop around trying to find new things, new places. You get it right?"

Harry chuckled. "More than you could ever imagine."

The trio of boys walked down a dark corridor, but stopped when they heard talking.

"…Snape I'm telling you it's not me!" the voice demanded, and then the boys heard Snape talk.

"That is what you say now, but I am not a fool, I make sure I know who and why I'm accusing before I do." Snape spat venomously.

"I swear Snape I didn't have anything to do with it!"

"And you think its weird that I don't believe you. I'm onto you Hawk, I'm a trained professional, and so I'm never wrong when it comes to these situations. Now leave my sight before I call Dumbledore!"

There was footsteps going away, and then the trio came face to face with Snape. "What are you three doing out at this hour?" Snape asked suspiciously.

Cody trembled behind Harry and Draco since he had never met Snape before. "Please professor, we're looking for Hermione she disappeared after the feast and we're worried about where she's gone." Harry pleaded.

"You boys haven't checked the library, I suppose. Funny, that would have been the first place I would have looked." Snape drawled then glided away from them.

"Come on guys, let's go check the library." Harry said pushing the boys the other way down the hall.

When Cody led them to the library they hid behind a bookshelf because what they saw was horrifying. Ron was talking to Hermione, and she actually looking like she pitied him. "That bastard!" Draco whispered angrily. "He's not supposed to talk to her, it was part of the bet."

Harry was frowning at the scene and put his ear to the bookshelf so he could listen better.

"…Ron I'm sorry, I didn't know." Hermione said.

"That's alright Hermione, you didn't know, you were being brainwashed by the Slytherin, and his new best friend." Ron spat, and Draco grabbed his chest sarcastically acting hurt that he was called _the Slytherin._

"Now Ron, Harry is my best friend, wait our best friend." Hermione corrected. "Why are you acting like such a jerk to him?"

Ron looked up at Hermione. "Because I'm jealous of him."

"Why?"

" 'Cause you look like you really, really like him, and I like you." Ron said hesitantly.

"Really Ron, because my impression of yours and mine relationship is bickering not the opposite. Why would you like me anyway? I'm just the plain bookworm."

"I think your pretty, and yeah a know it all, but smart, and yeah a one person woman and the one person seems to be Harry, but we can look past that." Ron said hopefully.

Hermione stared at him. "Ron I'm sorry, but no I don't like you like that. You're just my friend nothing more, nothing less. Okay?"

Ron sighed. "Fine, but if you change your mind you know where to find me."

Harry and Draco looked at each other then nodded both having the same idea, which Cody was totally clueless about. "Alright Harry 3…2…1 now!" Draco whispered pushing Harry out from behind the bookshelf with him.

"Weasley! What are you doing?" Draco demanded both him and Harry rounding on Ron with their wands out.

"Hey what the heck, I'm not doing anything!" Ron yelled at Draco.

"Hermione, why are you here?" Harry wondered walking up to her.

"Harry, Draco don't hex Ron, I wanted to talk to him."

"WHAT!"

I asked to come see him and to talk about his behavior lately. Please… actually Ron has something to say to you both. Ron?" Hermione said turning to Ron.

He took a deep breath. "Harry sorry I've been acting like a jerk to you, and not accepting Malfoy. Will either one of you forgive me?" Ron asked trying to ignore Draco's wand in his throat.

Harry and Draco looked at each other then Harry spoke. "We'll think about it Ron, what you did was over and beyond the limits, but we'll consider it."

"Thanks Harry that's all I ask!"

"Good, now boys lets get to our dormitories before we get caught. Alright Cody lead the way." Hermione said pushing Draco and Harry out the door.

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**Again sorry about the late update, but please stick with me through this. I left the story hanging with Ron. I might make him friends with them all again but I may not. Please keep reading to find out. And what's up with Snape and that Hawk person? Well just wait to find out. :) Please read and review. Thanks –SR7 **

**Note: What do you think of Cody?**


	8. Ellie Beck and Brody Hawk

**I'm back! Finally, I just got back from Washington, and let me tell you I'm tired, but I really wanted to post another chapter for you guys. I'm glad most of you like Cody; he is definitely one of my favorites. I also got a review saying I should make Ron friends with them again, and I think I'm going to do it, I'm just not going to make him a big part in the story because it would defeat my story line. Please Read and Review ;) –SR7**

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"So Hermione… why didn't you at least tell us what you were doing?" Harry asked as he, Hermione, Draco, and Cody walked back to the Apache house.

"I'm sorry guys, I just wanted to do this alone. It was something that I had to take care of. I know you might feel a little hurt that I didn't tell you, but I didn't want you to blast Ron away just because he was talking to me, which almost happened." Hermione said glaring at Draco who tried to look anywhere but Hermione.

"Your right 'Mione we're sorry. Right Draco?" Harry said turning to Draco expectantly.

Draco scrunched up his nose in disgust but feeling defeated turned to Hermione. "I'm sorry Hermione for almost blasting Ron all the way back to Scotland, and I'll try to give him another chance if he gives me one."

"Thank you Draco that means all lot!" Hermione said hugging Draco tightly which caught the blonde headed former Slytherin off guard. Harry looked at the embrace and felt a pang of jealousy towards Draco, but shook it off after Draco pushed Hermione away with a look that meant _please don't do that_.

"Well dudes and dudette." Cody said getting the trio's attention. "We have to hurry back to the common room if we're going to make it, and Hermione I asked my friend Ellie to show you around a little bit, she will also be rooming with you along with some other fellow 5th year girls. She's sitting on the couch in the common room."

"How do you know that?" Draco asked Cody since they had only just then approached the portrait hole.

Cody turned to face the curious faces of his new friends. "I know I said she was my friend, but actually she is my twin… so we have this twin thing where we know where the other is, but its not that strong like some other twins are."

Hermione nodded in full understanding, but Harry and Draco were still lost. Hermione looked at them then rolled her eyes. "You lazy prats should really study more, especially you Harry since your such good friends with Fred and George. Actually they have one of those stronger twin connections that Cody was talking about." Hermione said getting into her teaching mode.

Before Hermione could continue though Draco shouted the password and ushered Hermione in. Cody led Hermione over to a pretty fair haired girl, with blue eyes, a dazzling smile, and looked a little like Cody but a more feminine version of him. Draco's eyes popped out of his head at the sight of the gorgeous Apache. He grabbed Harry's arm and led him to the corner the farthest away from the Beck twins and Hermione. "Mate, that is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Do you think she would go out with a guy like me?" Draco asked in a rush.

Harry looked at his friend with a smile. "Yeah you definitely have a chance you should go for it, but I would make friends with her first if I were you." Harry said quietly to Draco, but he started laughing at Draco when he had a bewildered look on his face.

"FRIENDS! Are you serious?" Draco whispered loudly. "How can I be around that girl and not make a move?"

"Well, just do what I do. Be her best friend, then when the moments right make a move."

Draco looked at Harry with a sly smile. "This girl your talking about wouldn't happen to be Hermione would it? And when have you actually made a move on her?"

Harry blushed at his obvious mistake. "Your right I haven't made a move, but it's my decision when I do… and don't tell her I have a crush on her I want to do it myself when the moments right."

"Alright Romeo I won't say anything _if_ you help me with 'Ellie.'" Draco emphasized the 'if' making Harry groan.

"Fine, we have a deal." Harry and Draco shook on it then headed back to the couch that contained Ellie, Cody, and Hermione.

Cody noticed them walking over so he stood up to make introductions. "Harry! Draco! Glad you came to join us, this is my twin sister Ellie Beck. Ellie this my new friends Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter."

Ellie shook Draco's hand, but froze when she got to Harry. "Oh my Gosh… I can't believe it's actually Harry Potter, this is the greatest honor I've had in a long, long time. I want you to know that my brother, our parents, and me are full supporter of you, and believe that you witnessesed the rebirth of Voldemort last year as well as fought him. Wow this is amazing, never in my life did I think I would ever get to meet you." Ellie said in frenzy making Harry blush by his fan and also a little annoyed.

"Thank you Ellie, that means a lot that someone believes me. Not a lot of people in Europe are as accepting as you. Well we can all talk about that later, but I think you should make friends with my friend Draco." Harry said pushing Draco towards her. "He needs someone to show him the ropes around here."

"I would be happy to." Ellie said turning to Draco and blushing when she saw Draco staring at her intently and happily. "Hermione how about we get some sleep, we can all continue this conversation in the morning, but right now we should go down for the night." Ellie said taking Hermione's hand and leading her up the spiral staircase to the girl's dormitories.

"My sister's right, we have a big day tomorrow so we will need our sleep. This way to the comfort of the bed." Cody said in a deep singsong voice leading Harry and Draco up the stairs.

The boys entered their dormitory and this is what they saw. Six four-poster beds with curtains surrounding it, the bedspreads were either black, red, or white and the curtains were all red. A private bathroom for each student, as well as a private place to get ready in the morning or such; also their trunks had been brought up and placed at the end of the beds. The other boys in the dormitory had already decorated their parts of the room with various posters and streamers, when they saw Harry and Draco they immediately came over and introduced them selves.

"Sup! I'm Seth." A tall boy with short dark brown hair and blue eyes greeted with a strong handshake. Clearly the boy had been doing all lot of activities to stay fit.

"Hey dudes, I'm David." A Jewish looking boy greeted, who had a buzz cut and was average height.

"Hiya! I'm Darrick." An average height boy greeted who had longer light brown hair and not as physically fit as the other boys but he wasn't chunky.

Harry and Draco shook each of their hands. "Hi I'm Harry Potter and this is my friend Draco Malfoy." Harry greeted.

Seth spoke, "So you're the famous Harry Potter, I have to say it's great to meet you."

"Yeah thanks." Harry said standing up a little straighter.

"What about me? I mean you've heard of me to right?" Draco asked acting cocky.

Seth, David, and Darrick looked at Draco and all said in unison. "Are we supposed to know you?"

Draco groaned and went to find his bed mumbling under his breath. Harry turned back to Cody. "Hey mate, I need to ask you something."

"Yeah dude what's up?" he asked flopping onto his bed, which was next to Harry's.

"Okay, so tonight when we were looking for Hermione and we ran into professor Snape and that guy, Hawk. Well I wanted to know who he was. Is he a professor here?" Harry wondered getting under his covers and shifting into a comfortable position facing Cody. Draco was listening to the question from the bed to Harry's right.

Cody looked at Harry then at his dorm mates who had heard the question and was waiting for an answer. "Yeah, Hawk's a professor here. His full name is Brody Hawk, he's a bit of a slime ball not liked by a lot by the students here, but Headmaster Heffner keeps him here anyway. Hawk runs the dueling clubs here, and that's pretty much all he does."

"So why do you think Snape was interrogating him tonight about something he apparently did." Harry wondered out loud. Draco had his thinking face on and now Harry noticed was pacing around his bed like Ron usually did.

"Snape usually always knows who he's accusing and why. So what I want to know is what the story is with Hawk. He must have done something that wound Snape up." Draco said darkly.

Cody looked at the two Hogwarts students. "So what is your stories, you seem like you both have been through a war already."

Harry looked up at Cody's face. "We have."

Draco chuckled. "Yeah this boy right here has already recovered the sorcerers stone, fought a basilisk as well as found the chamber of secrets and destroyed Tom Riddles diary that possessed Ginny Weasley, found a secret death eater that used his animagus form to transform into a rat as well as released an innocent man from Azkaban, fought a werewolf, went back in time, competed in the tri-wizard tournament at the age of fourteen, won, and witnessed and fought Voldemort returning. Oh and I do believe I forgot to mention faced Voldemort when only one year old took a killing curse to the head and survived." Draco took a deep breath trying to see if he forgot anything.

"Thanks mate, but you deserve some credit also since you and your family has been acting as spies for Dumbledore and Voldemort, but always have been on our side. You probably faced some pretty gruesome stuff." Draco grimaced but didn't say anything.

"Wow." Draco and Harry had just noticed Cody and him dorm mates looking at them with awe. "You guys are amazing, you're better than any of us, and we're like the coolest guys in the school. Right David?" Darrick said turning to David.

"Ha-ha, I don't know about the coolest, but we are definitely up there." David said flexing his arms and exaggerating it out much longer than necessary.

"Come on let's get to bed dudes. Night!" Cody said yawning and drawing back his curtains.

"NIGHT!" Everybody else said back, doing the same as Cody.

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The next morning Harry woke up to a sunshine filled room with all the Apache boys already ready for the day waiting for him and Draco, who was still asleep, snoring. "'Mornin sunshine's." greeted Cody who was leaning over Harry's bed with a huge smile plastered onto his face. Darrick was leaning over Draco's bed trying to shake him awake, but to no avail.

"Hold on Darrick let me." Harry said groggily getting up to wake Draco. Harry took out his wand. "_Aquamenti!_" A stream of water flowed out of Harry's wand onto Draco who woke up immediately and attacked Harry.

"What the merlins beard was that for?" Draco demanded pinning Harry down.

"Sorry mate but you had to wake up." Harry defended pushing Draco off of him onto the floor next to him.

Draco growled casting a drying charm on his self. Cody and the Apache boys laughed helping the two boys up. "Dudes you two crack me up! But seriously we should go meet Ellie and Hermione down stairs." Cody said brushing off his robes with his hands. Draco's eyes lit up when Cody mentioned Ellie.

"Come on mate we have to get dressed and ready, don't want to keep the ladies waiting you know what I mean right?" Draco prodded Harry.

Cody chuckled. "Yeah, your new robes are in your closet. We'll wait for you down in the common room, kay?"

"Yeah man we'll be right down." Harry reassured following Draco to their closets. Harry took out a scarlet robe that had a red and black striped tie along with black slacks and a white shirt. Harry looked over at Draco who had put his robes on same as Harry.

"This feels so weird wearing red robes, usually my color is green and silver, but now its scarlet and black."

Harry chuckled at Draco, as he finished tying his tie around his neck. "Okay come on mate, we should head down."

"Yeah to meet our ladies." Draco said hintingly, smiling.

Harry rolled his eyes, but followed Draco down to the common room. When they got down they saw the boys waiting for them on the couch and Ellie and Hermione waiting by the portrait hole talking. Harry saw that Hermione was wearing a black skirt underneath her robes as well as all the other girls were. She also had the Apache robes and an Apache headband on.

When Hermione saw the boys coming down she ran over and gave them both a hug. "How did you two sleep?" she wondered letting go of Harry.

"Not bad, the beds here are a lot more comfortable than the Slytherin beds back at Hogwarts." Draco said scratching the back of his head.

"That's good. How about we all go down to breakfast then Cody can show us around the castle."

"Okay 'Mione lets go." Harry said walking towards the portrait hole, but was pulled back from the collar of his shirt.

"You guys go ahead, I need to talk with Harry for a second." Cody said keeping a hold on Harry so he couldn't escape. Hermione and Draco looked at each other and nodded leaving with the rest of the group. "Okay Harry." Cody started looking back at Harry. "Who is that girl?" Cody pointed at the pretty Asian Ravenclaw, Cho.

Harry looked at Cho; he had had a small crush on her the year before, but stopped when she went with Cedric to the Yule Ball. "Oh, that's Cho, she's a year above us."

"Wow… she is a cutie. What do you know about her?"

"Well not much other than she plays seeker on the Ravenclaw team, she went out with Cedric Diggory all the way up until he died, she is a very smart witch, and she's a good friend to have."

"Do you think she would go out with me if I asked her?" Cody asked in a trance.

Harry looked at Cody with a sad expression on his face. "I doubt it right now. Cedric just died not but three months ago, and she's having a hard time getting over him. You could try being her friend though. I'm positive that's what she's looking for right now."

Cody nodded. "I understand, how about we accompany her to breakfast?"

Harry smiled. "I'm sure she'll appreciate it." Then Harry shook Cody's hand off his shoulder and called for Cho. "Hey Cho!"

Cho looked up form the book she was reading, and then walked over to Harry and Cody. "Yes? What is it Harry?"

"Me and my new friend Cody were wondering if we could take you to breakfast, but only if you like." Harry said carefully.

Cho smiled. "I would be honored being accompanied by the hero and this handsome man." She said referring to Cody, who blushed.

"Great lets head down then!" Cody exclaimed taking Cho's arm and linking it with his own arm.

They walked all the way down to the Dinner Hall while Harry listened to Cody try to flirt with Cho lightly. "…So that is how I learned to surf."

"Wow that's incredible!" Cho said in awe. Harry chuckled at the story Cody had just told.

"So Cho, Harry tells me you play Quidditch."

"Oh did he now." Cho started turning to Harry with a smile on her face. "Well its true. I play seeker for Ravenclaw, but I'm not that good. Especially compared to Harry." She said her voice downcast, but proud of Harry.

"No way, you didn't tell me you were a seeker." Cody said in awe turning to Harry.

Before Harry could answer Cho chuckled. "Yeah he is, actually he is the youngest seeker in a century, and he is the best. The only game he has ever lost is the one that the dementers came and interfered in making Harry fall off his broom. Even then Cedric tried to get a rematch because of the unfairness, but Dumbledore didn't allow it." Cho started tearing up talking about Cedric, and Harry and Cody noticed. So Cody pulled Cho closer to him and hugged her. "I'm sorry, its just Cedric's death really influenced me. Harry I'm so sorry you had to be right there when you-know-who finished him off, that must have been horrible, but before you guys entered the maze he pulled me over and told me if he didn't make it, to tell you how much he respected you, and found you as such a great friend, then said something about you should really go for H.G. whatever that means, but he said you would know.

Now it was Harry's turn to start tearing up, he knew exactly what H.G. meant and he couldn't believe Cedric knew, but he was touched by Cedric's words that hadn't reached him until now. "Thank you Cho, I'm glad that you feel comfortable to tell me that now." He said sniffing and wiping his tears away.

"No problem Harry."

"Well I understand that you two have had some hard things happen so far, but lets go eat and try to get your minds off of it." Cody said kindly leading them over to the group of Apache's.

"Harry! Are you okay?" Hermione asked worried at seeing the puffy red eyes that Harry had. "And Cho, what's wrong with you two. Start talking." Hermione demanded leading Harry over to the seat next to her.

"Sorry 'Mione, we were just talking about Cedric." Harry said taking Hermione's napkin she handed to him to wipe his eyes with.

Hermione lifted her expression instantly. "Oh, I understand. Maybe you should eat something. Here have some toast." She said stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth.

"Thanf vu 'Mione." Harry said with a full mouth.

The rest of breakfast went much more smoothly. Dean, Seamus, Neville, and Ginny all came over to eat with them, and Cody offered to show them around as well. Ginny told Harry that she was going to try out for the Cortez Quidditch team, and asked if he was to. Harry said that he and Draco were both going to try out, so before Ginny went back to her table she said, "may the best team win."

There was a bang as the Dinner halls doors swung open, and a man with pale skin and long brown hair, and silver eyes walked in. Cody leaned across the table to Harry. "That's professor Hawk, scary right?"

Harry nodded and watched as Hawk glided over to the staff table in a quick pace. "Harry what are you thinking?" Hermione wondered worried about his answer.

"I'm thinking about how we're going to find out what that Hawk dude is up to." Harry said confidently. Hermione sighed.

"Fine, I'm in, but please don't try to get us into to much trouble. We just got here and I don't want to be sent back home for getting in a lot of trouble here." Hermione stated uncomfortably.

"I'm in to mate! Besides you and me still need to get a team together, you haven't forgotten about that right?" Draco asked.

"Of course not, but that can wait until tomorrow. I want to find out more about Hawk."

"Okay, stop your begging I'm in to." Cody sighed.

"What?"

"I'm saying that you have me. Count me in, I'll help you peoples."

"Thanks mate."

"Hey, no problem if you want I can get you a list of some valuable people that you can trust to use. And what's this team Draco mentioned?"

Harry and Draco explained the plan they had with Dumbledore, and how they were co-team leaders. "…So are you still in?" Harry wondered since they explained the whole plan and wondered if Cody was still willing to help.

"Hmmm let me think… OF COURSE I'M IN!" Cody said loudly. "This is awesome I can't believe I'm going to be part of a super secret team that is going to help take down a Dark lord." He said excitingly.

"Harry, you should really learn to speak more quietly for we heard your whole plan, and before you embarrass yourself with begging we'll join your little team." Fred said behind him.

Harry turned around to face the twins. "Can I trust you two? You won't say anything about this will you?"

"Harry you sound like you don't trust us."

"Should I have a reason not to trust you two?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Harry we have been your friend since you were in 1st year, of course you can trust us." George said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Fine, but this stays between us. Okay?"

"Okay! Don't get you knickers in a twist." Harry glared at them menacingly at what they said, so they backed off. "Ok then see you guys later." They said together and rushed out of the Dinner Hall.

"Are you sure you trust them mate?" Draco asked getting up with the rest of the group.

"Yeah, I do. Plus I think they could be very valuable to this operation."

"Okay whatever you say." Draco said defeated. Then the group left with Cody so he could show them around.

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After their tour everyone was pretty tired so they rested in the common room. Hermione sat on the couch and took out an old book that Harry didn't recognize so he went over to sit by her. "What do you got there Hermione?"

Hermione looked up from her book into Harry's eyes and scooted closer to him so he could read over her shoulder. "Last night Ellie found this book underneath one of the floorboards in our room, so she gave it to me to read since she wasn't that interested in it."

"What's it about?" Harry asked

"I don't know it's written in Latin, and unfortunately I don't know how to speak a lot of Latin so I got this book in the library today." She said pulling out a Latin to English translation book. "I'm going to find out what it means."

"I'm proud of you 'Mione, your putting yourself into danger for me, your getting smarter everyday, and your still my friend even though me and Ron have been fighting lately."

"Well of course Harry, you're my best friend, I would do anything for you, even if it put me in a whole lot of danger. Now shut up and let me read my book." Hermione said giggling.

Harry smiled. "Of course Mione." With that said Harry and Hermione stayed on the couch Hermione leaning on Harry reading, and Harry watching his surroundings like Draco trying to impress Ellie, and Cody, Seth, David, and Darrick playing some wizarding games in the middle of the room, amusing most people around them. Fred and George trying to sell some of their joke products to innocent American kids, and Cho talking to some Apache 6th year girls. Soon it came to be 10:00 and Harry felt his eyes drooping, soon he was asleep.

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**How was that? Tell me what you think in a review, and thank you **_**Phoenixhp5t3 **_**for suggesting the Ron thing. Also thank you **_**JazzGirl123 **_**for all your helpful reviews and thank you for sticking with me since the beginning. Another chapter will be posted soon, thanks! –SR7**


	9. Hogwarts Army

**What's up? I'm back :) haha; Well if you haven't heard my trip to Washington was great! My class all went together, and their seriously the best class ever, we're all like family and they always make everything fun :). In this story Draco has a crush on Cody's sister Ellie, not that Slytherin Pansy (ugh). He deserves way better, don't ya think? Note: Do you peoples think I should make Ginny manipulative with Harry and Hermione, you know messin things up. Or should she be supportive of them? Anyway please read and review! –SR7**

**(P.S. Note: I really do know a Cody, Seth, David, Darrick, and Ellie in real life so I thought it would be fun to use them in my story. Their pretty awesome people :). )**

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There was a chime in the distance, but Harry didn't know where it was coming from. He tightened his eyes together more to see if it was just apart of his dream, but the chime got louder. He slit his eyes open, sunshine was flowing through the windowpanes, most people who were hanging out in the common room the night before was still there only more sprawled out and sleepy looking. Hermione was still curled up with her book, and she was still leaning on Harry's shoulder. Harry smiled; Hermione did look cute when she slept. Harry looked up again an owl was sitting outside the window tapping on the glass. "Well that explains the noise." Harry complained getting up. He went over to the window and let the brown barn owl in. He had a letter tied to his ankle addressed to Harry. So Harry opened up the dirty piece of parchment and read it.

_Dear Harry,_

_Hey! It's Snuffles can you believe it? Well I want to know how your doing at Duraflame, I've met Headmaster Heffner once while I was traveling and I thought he was a bit of a nut job, but that's just my opinion. So Dumbledore told me about how you and our new friend Draco are going to be the leaders of the Hogwarts operation. Well I wanted to send my congrats and a warning. This job is hard and I want you to watch your back. Not everyone at Duraflame is trustworthy especially Brody Hawk. Back in Azkaban he came to visit one of the other prisoners who might I add was a Death Eater, he's a dangerous man Harry so watch your back as well as your friends. Whoops! I probably said too much in a letter, well if you have any questions please contact me via flame…_

_-Snuffles_

Harry put down the letter and took a deep breath; apparently Hawk was definitely someone to look out for. Harry wondered how Sirius had been in contact with Dumbledore so he grabbed a spare piece of parchment in the room and started writing his reply back to Sirius.

Harry was about to tie his letter back onto the owl when he heard some shuffling behind him. "Who was that?" Hermione asked quietly.

Harry turned in his seat so he was facing the sleepy looking girl who had a blanket wrapped around her. "Snuffles. He sent me a letter asking how we are doing in Duraflame so far, and gave me a warning about professor Hawk. Apparently he's in league with some Death Eaters."

Hermione bowed her head down. "So no matter where we go, there is always someone out to get us, right?" Harry looked at Hermione her face was pale and lifeless, she looked like she was going through a war, and she was being defeated in it. Harry motioned Hermione to come and sit on his lap. Hermione shuffled over and sat then laid her head against his shoulder. Harry wrapped his arms around her protectively.

"Yes 'Mione there will always be someone out to get us, sadly, but we need to keep strong and fight this battle till our heart gives out. Okay?" He instructed stroking her arm.

"I trust you Harry, but you can't fight this war alone, you need help. I will be there for you as well as Draco, and all our loyal friends. Please let us help." Hermione pleaded hugging Harry.

"Of course 'Mione, that's also the point of the team Dumbledore wants me and Draco to create. Strong, valuable people who are capable of defeating any Dark lord Voldemort, or any other capable being. If you still want to would you please be part of the team?" Harry asked hopefully.

Hermione chuckled. "Of course Harry, always."

Harry smiled; this team is already starting out good. Harry and Hermione stayed sitting and looking at the sunrise for another couple minutes when they heard the rest of their friends get up.

They saw Draco fall out of the chair he was laying on. "Bloody chair!" Harry and Hermione laughed as they both got up and helped Draco up. Draco looked confused. "Did we all fall asleep down here last night?"

Harry looked around. "Yeah I guess we did, weird that we all did. I would have thought someone would have gone back up to the dormitories."

Draco also looked around scrunching his eyes up. "Oh well. Harry we need to put together a team, today. Any ideas who? I mean we already have us of course, Hermione, Cody, and the Weasley twins, but we still need a number of other people, who we can trust. So we need to think about this thoroughly and carefully."

"Well said Draco." Harry said patting his back. "We can start after breakfast. We need a meeting place though, somewhere nobody can find us."

"Yes." Hermione said thoughtfully biting her lip. "Also somewhere we can practice defensive spells, and to plan our next moves."

The trio put their heads down to think about a place, but of course what help would that be since they didn't know the school that well. "Cody…"

"What was that Harry?" Hermione asked looking up at the boy who just spoke.

"Cody. He knows this school probably better than anyone. He sure has explored it enough times. He for sure would know if there was any secret rooms in this castle." Harry said pushing Draco out of the way and walking up to Cody's sleeping form. "Cody! Wake up!"

"Hmm?" Cody mumbled yawning.

"Cody we need a favor."

"Is it that important that you woke me up at 8:00 in the morning on a Sunday?" Growled Cody sitting up from the hard floor he was lying on.

Harry and Draco rolled their eyes then Harry spoke. "Yes of course it is, now I need you to tell us if there is any secret rooms in the castle that no one knows about, probably even somewhere where Heffner doesn't even know about."

Cody looked up to the trio like they were crazy. "Of course there is, this is Duraflame after all. But I can't tell you what or where it is right now, way to dangerous, but I can show you after breakfast. Does this have anything to do with the team that you guys need to put together by any chance?" He asked expectantly.

The trio looked at each other then Hermione turned back to Cody who looked both confused and tired. "Yes it does, and its kind of important so we need to do this fast."

"Alright, let's head down to eat then we can go." Cody said getting up and dusting off his robes and leading the group down to the Dinner Hall.

Half way to the Hall Cody spoke after a few minutes silence. "You know I've never met anyone quite like you guys before, its, its… pretty cool! I mean I've met some pretty famous people in my life time, but- OOF!" Cody gasped after the trio pushed him behind a corner. "What the heck was that for?" demanded Cody whispering.

"Shhhh!" Hermione and Draco hissed putting their fingers to their lips. "Listen." Hermione said indicating the faint voices around the corner, it was Gavin and Ron.

"I have to say Gavin I wasn't expecting this from you." Ron said sighing.

"Yeah well people change, and plans change." Gavin insisted.

"I thought you were going to help me, but I guess I was wrong. You really are a bloody bastard." Ron spat.

"Hey! Watch your mouth Weasley! You never know where it might end up!" Gavin spat back pushing Ron.

"Stay away from me and my friends, your not trustworthy anymore."

"I wouldn't count on it Weasleby." Gavin then swept passed Ron towards the Dinner Hall.

The trio plus Cody exchanged looks. This was something serious and Ron got himself in the middle of it all. "We have to help him." Hermione pleaded.

Draco and Harry exchanged looks with each other then Harry spoke so Draco didn't have to. "We agree 'Mione. Ron has gotten himself into some deep water, and he is our friend so we have to help him." Hermione beamed at Harry, but Draco rolled his eyes.

"I still don't like that red headed demon."

"Well to bad Draco, we want to help him so live with it!" Hermione snapped and then rounded the corner towards Ron. "Ron! What was that about?" she asked as the rest of the group followed behind her.

Ron's head snapped up at the unexpected visitors. "Um- the uh- what? I don't know what you're talking about." Ron stammered suspiciously.

"Spill it Weasley, we heard the whole thing, so don't try to lie to us." Draco told Ron rolling his eyes.

"Fine!" spat Ron. "Gavin turned against me for evil and I'm really bummed about it because he is powerful, smart, and just plain good at pretty much everything. I tried to get together a group of followers to help me take down whoever destroyed Hogwarts, because I thought if I was the one to take down the mastermind people would recognize me as a hero not just the youngest male Weasley who is a huge prat." Ron said hanging down his head in shame.

Harry felt a little sorry for Ron because of his lack of achievements so he walked up to the sulking new Cortez and took his shoulder into his grip. "Ron, it is not your job to take down this thing, it's the ministry's, plus you don't want all this unnecessary fame. Trust me on this one, you don't. And if your that bothered that you haven't done anything then how 'bout you join our team to vanquish the evil mastermind who destroyed our school. But only if we can trust you, can we trust you?"

Ron looked up and smiled at Harry. "Yeah mate, you can. And I promise to never betray you or walk out on you again." Ron was about to take out his wand to vow on it when the group stopped him.

"Whoa there, I don't think you want to do that, but you couldn't anyway since McGonagall put a block on your magic for the rest of this week and next." Harry said chuckling at the shocked face of Ron.

"That-explains-so-much…" Ron said in awe.

"Come on guys we should head down to breakfast." Hermione urged the men.

"Yeah she's right, lets go." Draco said jogging towards the Hall, everybody laughed.

Harry was about to take a swig of pumpkin juice when he thought of something. "Hermione? Did you find anything in that book you were trying to read last night?"

Hermione looked up at Harry who was across from her at the Apache table. Hermione slightly looked around her then leaned in towards Harry and spoke in a quiet whisper. "Yes, but can I tell you about it later?" Harry nodded his head, and then Hermione went back to eating her bacon in an odd silence.

After breakfast Cody took Harry, Hermione, and Draco up into an empty corridor then spoke to them quietly and softly. "Are you ready for this?" The group nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Alright follow me, and don't speak. You have to be quiet." Cody made sure no one was going to speak then he went over to a window that had no glass in it, just wide open air. Cody took out his wand and said _"pro agravis!"_ Suddenly the big empty window started to swirl in the inside then it stopped to leave the same scene they were looking at before, the ocean. "Alright walk in now." Cody said taking Hermione's hand and helping her up to the windows ledge.

"What?" She squeaked. "Won't I fall right out the window?"

Cody chuckled. "No, don't worry. This is an enchanted window when you put the '_pro agravis'_ spell on it. Trust me just walk through the window and believe me, you won't fall to your death, you'll end up somewhere much better than the rocky hill below." Cody smiled a reassuring smile then Hermione took a deep breath and walked in, then she vanished.

Harry was holding his breath the whole time. "Wh-what just happened?" he asked confused. "Where'd she go?"

But Cody didn't answer he just lifted the paralyzed Draco up onto the ledge and pushed him in. Draco vanished as well. "Okay Chosen One, your next." Cody prodded slapping Harry's back.

Harry gulped then looked back at Cody who was shooing him in. Harry looked back to the window and took a step, then he felt a tug, and then he hit the cold hard ground on his hands and knees. Harry looked up; he landed in a big room that was filled with plants and trees that had magical things growing off of it. There was over a hundred cushions filled everywhere in the room as well as books, then there was a big tree house in one of the larger tree's that had lights glowing out of it, the whole scene was so colorful and magical.

Harry rubbed his head, thinking he was dreaming it, but the Draco came out of the tree house. "Come on mate, you have to see this!"

"He's right dude, its pretty cool." Cody said behind Harry slapping his back making Harry jump.

"Cody! What is this place?" Harry asked Cody as they made their way to the ladder that led up to the tree house.

"It's a secret place, only me, David, Seth, and Darrick know about it, but of course now you guys do. It's a great place to just hang out, or hold secret meetings." Cody hinted. "Since we don't have a lot of use for it, I thought maybe you guys could use it as your H.Q. this would be fine right?" Cody wondered unsure.

The duo stepped into the house, a big round table was in the middle of the room filled with seats, all around the room was pictures of famous war heroes, and in a corner was a chest that had a huge padlock on it. Harry turned to Cody. "Yes Cody this would be perfect, and what is in that chest right there?" Harry asked pointing to the mysterious chest.

Cody folded his arms. "I don't know me and the guys have tried opening it, even tried using _alohomora _it didn't work either. So we're guessing something pretty important is in there that someone doesn't want anyone to know about."

Hermione looked thoughtfully at the chest. "Hermione, what are you thinking about?" Draco asked walking up to her.

Hermione looked up at him. "Oh, I'm sorry I just was thinking how it seems like there would be another way to open it. It can't be permanently locked, there is no spell that can do it, but there are some old unknown spells that nobody uses anymore that might work. I would have to go look them up though since, I haven't learned them yet."

"Your brilliant 'Mione." Harry said in awe.

Hermione smiled. "Thank you Harry."

"Okay now that we have a meeting place, we need people so how about we get Fred, George, and Ron and bring them over so we can discuss new recruits." Draco suggested taking a seat.

"Good idea Draco, okay how about you and Cody go get Fred and George, and me and Harry can go get Ron. Deal?" Hermione asked putting her hand in front of her.

The rest of the guys got the message and put their hands onto each other. "Deal!"

"Great! Well let's go!" Hermione bossed as she shooed them all out of the tree and back into the window that showed this time the inside of the hallway.

Cody and Draco found the twins in the Apache common room in a secluded corner talking about business, but when the two blonde headed boys came up and told them what they were doing, they happily left their work and followed the duo back to the secret room. Harry and Hermione found Ron in the Dinner Hall stuffing his face with leftovers, so they had to force drag him out of the room just to tell them what they were doing.

Once everyone was finally in the tree house, which the Weasley's were totally in awe over especially the twins, they finally got down to business. "…So I think that Cho would be a great recruit who's with me?" Cody asked raising his hand, but slowly lowered it when nobody else agreed.

"Sorry mate, but Cho is dead weight, we don't need that on a serious team. Just because she's pretty doesn't mean she's useful." Draco said not caring how harsh he sounded.

"Yeah, he's right mate, sorry, but she's pretty useless. Anyway, I think Neville would be a great recruit, he's loyal, he's gotten a whole lot braver, and he's an expert at herbology which could be very useful." Harry said raising his hand.

"I agree Harry." Hermione said writing Neville's name down on the list. "Great! Who else?"

"How about Blaise?" Draco asked.

"Blaise? Isn't he and his family close to the Death Eaters?" Harry asked cautiously.

"He used to be, but when Voldemort tortured his mum in July, he came to our side ready to get some Voldemort guts spilled." Draco stated smiling at all the disgusted faces around him. "Trust me he would be a great recruit, powerful, quick, great with reflexes. I say we use him."

Harry considered this. "Only if he really is on our side. And didn't he get sorted into the Serra house or something?"

Draco shook his head in disappointment. "Yeah… I have no idea why though probably because of his loyalty, and his curiosity to try new things."

Before anyone could speak Hermione spoke up. "I like it Draco, I believe Blaise would be a great new recruit, but only if you 100% trust him." Draco nodded his head, so Hermione added Blaise's name to their list. "Okay, how about Ginny?"

All the Weasley's nodded their heads in agreement. "Trust us you do not want to get our sister angry, talk about World War III." Fred said a little scared.

"Alright then, I guess that was a no brainer." Hermione sighed adding her name to the list.

The meeting went on for another hour, and they managed to get some perfect people to their team. They are…

Neville

Blaise

Ginny

Seth

David

Darrick

Luna

Ellie

Seamus

Dean

Lavender

Parvati

"Great! So 18 people in all right?" questioned Draco who was never great at math.

Hermione laughed. "Right Draco, so should we round everybody up first, or should we continue this meeting without them?"

Hermione looked around the table, expecting an answer. After a couple seconds of no one talking she finally spoke. "Okay then, since no one is participating in this conversation, I say we split up and get the people, then lead them back here, okay?"

"Okay." Everybody else said.

" 'Kay then, Fred and George you're a team and you will be getting, Neville, Seamus, and Dean." The twins nodded in understanding then raced out the door, down the ladder, and towards the window. "Great… so um, Harry and Draco you will be a team and you will get Lavender, Parvati, Ellie, and Blaise."

Draco beamed. "You got it Hermione, we'll be back." He shouted running towards the door.

"Okay then Ron and Cody you will be with me, and we will get everyone else, kay?" Hermione asked the boys. Harry heard a murmur of agreement just before Draco pushed him out of the window into the hall.

"Easy Draco!" Harry yelled as he fell face first onto the cobblestone.

"Sorry mate, but to be fair I did give you a heads up. You were just to busy listening to Hermione to notice me." Draco reminded Harry smirking.

Harry punched Draco in the arm then they set out to get the girls plus Blaise. The duo was lucky, all their assigned girls and dude were in the library either studying or goofing off. So Harry and Draco each approached them, and told them their plan, luckily each one was ecstatic about it and gladly followed them back to H.Q. where they also found Fred and George with their people. Hermione's group hadn't returned yet, but it wasn't a long wait till they did.

Everyone sat down at the meeting table inside the tree house, and then Harry and Draco got the meeting started. "Order! Order in the court!" Draco yelled shutting up all the giddy people who were astounded by the mysterious secret room and the magic all around it. "Finally!" huffed Draco relaxing in his seat. "You may start Potter."

Harry ignored Draco calling him 'Potter' and just began the meeting. "So you all know why you're here right?" There was a murmur of agreements in the audience. "Good, and everyone is 100% sure they're in on this I presume." Everybody nodded. "Okay, so I think we should come up with a name, something that we can communicate with each other on that nobody else would know."

Hermione sat up straighter when she heard this. "That's brilliant Harry! We should take suggestions. Okay I'll go first how about the… H.D.T. standing for the Harry and Draco team." Hermione suggested, not getting a lot of votes on it. "Fine then what do you people want?"

A list of names went off. Ginny suggested the D.A. (Dumbledore's army), but Hermione shot it down when she said that it technically wasn't Dumbledore's, it was Harry and Draco's.

"H.F. (Hogwarts Forever)!"

"P.a.M. (Potter and Malfoy)!"

"G.S.A (Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Apache)!"

"H.A." Harry and Hermione said at once. They looked at each other and blushed turning away. This of course got the attention of Malfoy who smirked.

The rest of the group was confused. "What does H.A. stand for?" Asked a very confused Ron.

Harry spoke since Hermione became quiet and refused to talk. "H.A., its similar to Ginny's idea of the D.A., but H.A. stands for 'Hogwarts Army' since that's what we are with the exception of Cody, Seth, David, Darrick, and Ellie. It's what we're fighting for right now so it just fits. Don't you think?" He asked the group who were nodding their heads in agreement.

"I like it! All right raise your right hand if you're on board with Harry and Hermione's idea!" George yelled to the group raising his hand. Everybody raised their hands.

Harry smiled at this. "Great for now on we are Hogwarts Army."

Draco yelled. "For Hogwarts Army!" and put his hand in front of him indicating everyone do the same. Everyone did, and repeated after Draco.

"For Hogwarts Army!"

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**There you go! So how was that? Good right? Well I want to know what you think, so please review! I still want to know if I should make Ginny manipulative so there is a poll on my profile page you can vote on, or you can just review and tell me… either way works. Thanks! –SR7**


	10. The first classes and Dobby

**Haha hi! Thanks for the reviews on my last chapter they were awesome! Ok so right now my poll is tied, so I can't use it yet until one is at least beating the other, so please vote on it so I can get started on the next part of the story. Please read and review! Thanks! –SR7**

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The next day the H.A. was all in better moods then when the Hogwarts students first came to Duraflame. Harry and Draco were best friends, the golden trio reunited, Harry and Draco got their team started, and they already had their first mission. To find what was up with professor Hawk and Gavin.

While Harry was eating breakfast, with Draco and Hermione, Professor Pore and Professor McGonagall came up and handed them their schedules for the year. Draco looked over his sheet first. "Harry? Are all the schedules the same?" Harry was confused so he took Draco's schedule and compared it to his own.

"What the heck! The only classes we have together are the dueling club, defense against the dark arts, Home economics, and potions." Hermione also looked at their schedules.

"Ugh! I have Divination! I thought I dropped that class, and I thought McGonagall was going to discuss that with Heffner." Harry took his schedule back.

"Don't worry 'Mione, I have that class to. At least we will suffer together. I hope this Divination professor is better than Trelawney because I don't want to go through another year with someone predicting my death everyday, cause technically my death is beginning to become old news…" Harry stated looking back and forth between his two friends.

"I agree Harry, well what other classes do we have together?" Hermione wondered.

Harry looked back down at their cards. "Um… just Divination, transfiguration, potions, Herbology, and Home economics." Hermione sighed at hearing this. Harry noticed and was confused. "What's wrong 'Mione?"

"Oh, nothing its just I wanted to be in DADA with you, but I'm not so I'll be alone on that." Hermione rested her head on her hand and played with her food lightly.

Harry looked at her with sympathy. "Hey." He said putting his hand on her shoulder comfortably. "You're not going to be alone, you'll have some other Hogwarts students as well as other Duraflame students, the only thing is me and Draco aren't going to be one of them, but that's okay. At least we still have classes together."

Hermione looked up at Harry and smiled. "Thanks Harry, I appreciate it." Harry smiled back, but then Draco spoke.

"Yeah as sad as this is our first class starts in fifteen minutes, so I suggest we get a move on." Hermione gasped forgetting the conversation that just happened a couple seconds ago.

"Oh no! Draco what do we have first?"

Draco smiled. "Potions."

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"Welcome! My name is Professor Dunn for you Hogwarts students who don't know who I am." A cheerful short man with white hair boomed smiling at the Hogwarts students as some of the Duraflame students rolled their eyes. "As you Hogwartians know, but my Duraflame's don't, this is my new assistant for the year, Professor Snape, who is the potions master at Hogwarts." Dunn said this time addressing the Duraflame students. "He will be helping me this year as well as offering private tutoring sessions for those who feel they need the extra help." Snape got up from his chair and glided over to Dunn, cape and hair billowing behind him, and having his usual scowl on, but this time Harry noticed that Snape may have gave him and Draco a small smile, but it was to small to tell.

There was an airy tension in the musty Potions classroom. The Duraflame students, Harry noticed, seemed really annoyed and bored. Not like the students at Hogwarts usually are, either excited or scared. This made Harry think that Duraflame didn't have any problems like Hogwarts did pretty much every year. It wasn't until now that Harry start to kind of appreciate what Voldemort was doing, keeping him and his friends on their toes at all times, not that, that feeling was good, but better than what Harry was getting out of this place what seemed old and dried up. Harry leaned over to his left. "Cody why do you guys look so bored and tired?"

Cody looked at Harry like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Its school… you know homework, boring classes, uptight teachers, hours of classes everyday. Duh…" He said rolling his eyes.

Harry was taken aback, why was Cody acting so rude? Harry leaned back in his chair unaware that Snape was staring at him. Until Harry looked up that is. Now this time Harry leaned to the right towards Draco. "Mate, do you have any idea why Snape is staring at us?"

Draco looked from Dunn to Snape. "No idea Harry. We should ask him after class, Dumbledore told me in my letter that Snape might have some information for us."

"What? He didn't tell me that." Harry whispered quickly.

Draco chuckled softly. "That's because back then, you still thought Snape was a death eater, remember?"

Harry got a look of realization in his face. "Oh, right… sorry."

Draco chuckled again. "It's alright mate. We can worry about that later though, something you probably don't know about me is that I take my classes very seriously, so lets listen to what Dunn is saying, maybe he could give Snape a run for his money." They looked up at Dunn who had gotten tangled in some cobwebs and trying to free himself from the sticky mess. "Or may be not." Draco whispered laughing with the rest of the class.

After class, Dunn had managed to teach them how to brew a healing potion which Hermione and Draco made very quickly earning points for Apache. Harry got his a couple minutes after them, and then Neville, Cho, Seamus, Blaise, and Pansy. Who were the rest of the Hogwarts students in this particular class for fifth years. While the Hogwarts students were waiting around for the rest of the remaining hour of class, none of the Duraflame students had managed to brew the potion. And Dunn looked embarrassed by that especially with Snape there scowling at the Duraflame's.

"Well class… um, good effort and thank you Hogwarts for all successfully brewing the healing potion. Homework is to-to write a-a 400 word es-say on who first created the hea-ling potion." Dunn stammered trying to avoid Snape's glare. The class moaned at the homework, but Harry didn't think they should be. 400 words are not that much, and this is coming from a guy who usually puts off his homework till the last minute.

While the rest of the class left for break Harry, Draco, and Hermione stayed behind to speak with Snape. "Professor." Harry started walking up to the front of the room with Draco and Hermione trailing behind him. "We were wondering if you had any information concerning the H.A., I assume Professor Dumbledore told you about that right?" Snape glared at the trio and then glanced at Dunn who was pretending to be sorting different ingredients on the shelf.

"Yes Potter, but you will have to meet with me later to discuss it." Snape said quietly and making sure Dunn couldn't hear. Then he said a little more loudly. "And congratulations you three for successfully brewing your potions like I taught you in second year…" Snape turned to look at Dunn and scowling at his mistake. Dunn caught his eye, and yelped running towards his office. "Meet me in the H.Q. in two days, at midnight. Don't get caught." Snape warned pushing the trio out the door.

The group walked down the hall in silence until they came to the crossroad in the castle. Harry and Hermione said their goodbyes to Draco as they headed off to Transfiguration and Draco went the other way towards Care for Magical Creatures.

"Harry, do you think Hagrid made it here?" Hermione wondered as they slowly made their way to their next class.

"If he did Draco would have to tell us, since he has that class today."

"Well if he did I hope he didn't have any trouble getting here. I haven't seen him since we left Hogwarts. By the way Harry, have you heard back from Sirius yet?" Hermione wondered as they rounded a corner towards the classroom.

"No not yet, but I don't expect to either. Sirius is still a wanted man, so it could be hard to send messages from where he is. I'm still wondering how he sent his message to me in the first place."

Hermione looked down at her feet thoughtful. "Your right, sorry. Let's just get to class before we're late." Harry and Hermione sprinted they rest of the way down the corridor and entered the class. When they entered the room Ron was waiting for them in the back of the room.

"Harry! Hermione! You're here, isn't this great? We have a class together!" Harry gave Ron a small smile as he gave Ron a man hug, and then followed Ron to the seat he saved for him. "So, Harry what was your first class?" Ron wondered turning in his seat. Harry saw Hermione going to sit with Ellie, so only then did he answer Ron.

"Potions. Draco, Hermione, and me all had it this morning. What about you?" Harry wondered getting his books and quills out.

"Divination. Ugh… Harry. Blaise and me sat together at one of the crystal balls, and the Divination teacher Professor Kelly kept coming over and shaking her head in disgust at us. It was creepy, no matter how hot that professor is." Ron stated leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the desk.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, brace yourself for Potions. Professor Dunn is a bit of a nitwit he's teaching us stuff we learned in our second year, you should have seen the look on Snape's face, you would have to admit it was pretty funny." Harry chuckled remembering Snape's scowl.

Ron laughed then he calmed himself down. "So Harry, what other classes do we have together?" he asked getting out his schedule.

Harry got out his to, and then they compared them. "Looks like only Transfiguration, the dueling club, charms, and home economics."

Ron shrugged, "that's not to bad, what classes are me and Hermione in together. Just out of curiosity." Ron added seeing the look on Harry's face.

Harry looked down at Ron's schedule. "You two have Transfiguration, DADA, Care for Magical Creatures, and home economics." Ron looked pleased at the outcome so Harry quickly added. "And the good part is me and Draco are in some of those classes."

Ron stuck out his bottom lip and looked at his hands in front of them when they heard Professor McGonagall walk in, and then another woman professor only one that was a whole lot younger than McGonagall. The woman had dark Auburn hair that flowed down to her back, she had light rimmed glasses on, and she was tall and graceful. Ron's mouth dropped open. Then he whispered to Harry. "Boy, this school sure does have a lot of hot women in it." This was the first woman professor Harry had seen today, so unlike Ron he couldn't judge.

"Weasley!" McGonagall snapped very loudly jerking Ron out of his trance. "Get your feet off the table, be respectful!" Some of the students laughed, but other just acted like this was a regular thing. Ron obeyed her and shyly brought his feet down.

"Right then… thank you professor." The young professor thanked standing up from her desk and walking to the front of the room. "Hello students. My name is Phoebe Harris, but you can just call me Phoebe." She said earning smiles from her students, and a very stiff looking professor McGonagall. "I am actually a new professor here, so professor McGonagall will be helping me this year you know learn the ropes of teaching Transfiguration and such." Phoebe smiled back at McGonagall, and McGonagall gave her a small smile back. "Alright so today I thought we should just take it easy and get to know each other. So when I call your name please stand up and tell us something about yourself."

This went on for the rest of the period. When Phoebe got to Harry's name, she smiled brightly at him, and listened intently when Harry told the class that he was the only survivor of Voldemort, and he has already faced him several times. But then of course Phoebe asked him about his time in the tri-wizard tournament so Harry had to stay standing and tell about his time the previous year. Once he was done he fell into his seat gasping for breath and annoyed at his new professor.

Ron leaned closer to Harry. "I know you might hate me for this, but Phoebe is h-o-t!" Harry slowly turned his head towards Ron and glared at him with all the hate he was feeling at the moment. Ron expected this reaction and just turned back to their professor staring at her beauty.

Finally the class was over and Harry hurriedly gathered his things and left the room hoping that Phoebe wouldn't ask him to stay longer. Ron yelled "see you at lunch!" when he exited the room and saw Harry running down the corridor.

Harry had Defense against the dark arts next so he was hoping to catch up with Draco before he entered the classroom. His wish came true when he saw Draco and the rest of the class that just was in Care for magical creatures coming back up to the castle from the beach. "Harry!" Draco yelled and sprinting the rest of the way into the castle. "Mate, I never thought I would ever say this, but I love that class! We got to see creatures in the ocean, and then for the remainder of the time we got to swim! Man I'm flustered." Draco gasped smiling.

Harry laughed at his friend. "Great mate! Um just out of curiosity was Hagrid there?"

Draco looked at Harry, his smile faltering. "Sorry mate, he wasn't." Harry bowed his head and nodded, Draco noticed Harry's downcast face and tried to help. "So Harry, professor Goldby is the new DADA teacher, want to give him a hard time today?"

Harry looked back up at Draco who had pushed him to walk towards the DADA room. "Yeah… totally."

"Great well lets go!" Draco said slapping Harry on the back and then running off. Harry chuckled and ran off after him.

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"I am professor Pore, and I do not tolerate any nonsense, which includes fighting, cheating, and goofing off. I take this class very seriously, and I expect you all too. For you Duraflame students, I would try to make friends with our guests for they are far more skilled in the defense arts then any of you." Pore spat. "And the only reason you are not as skilled is because you choose to see life as a game, not reality. There is a dark lord out there willing to kill any one who gets in his way. So this year, anyone who is caught misbehaving or not putting their all effort into things will be punished."

Harry widened his eyes in shock, Pore had seemed so nice during the sorting ceremony, but now he was treating class like it was a boot camp. The Duraflame students looked a little frightened as they stood there getting yelled at, but finally Pore was done yelling. "Professor Pore. Perhaps it would be better if we get onto the lesson." Goldby stated speaking for the first time since class started.

Pore nodded. "Right. Class for those of you who don't know who this is. This is professor Goldby, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. He will be assisting me this year in training all of you. So enough chit chat lets begin on the spell _Stupefy_."

Draco's mouth dropped open. "Stupefy! Are you freaking kidding me? We learned that last year! Me and Harry already mastered it!" Draco yelled losing his temper and rounding on Pore.

"I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy but some (most) of these students haven't even tried it before, so before I send you to Headmaster Heffner I suggest you behave." Pore shot back.

Draco was about to retort back, but Harry grabbed his arm and dragged him to the other side of the room. "Mate, its okay, we can always practice it, no matter how well we can already do it. No harm in making it more powerful if you know what I mean…" Harry said as he winked at Draco.

Draco got the message. "Smart Potter, but we're going to need a dummy."

Harry was prepared for this. He took one of the chairs and transfigured it into a steel eight-foot high dummy. "Is this strong enough, do 'ya think?" Harry wondered knocking on the chest of the dummy getting a hollow moan from the inside.

Draco smirked. "Perfect Potter."

"Thank you Malfoy." Harry replied back playing Draco's little game.

During that class period both Harry's and Draco's _stupefy _got stronger as they kept having to transfigure items into stronger sturdier things. Soon they had gotten an audience. Even Pore had been mystified by the two young students displays of magic. Not soon enough class had ended, and everyone was filing out of the classroom headed to lunch. Some of the Duraflame students who had been in the class came up to Harry and Draco to introduce themselves or congratulate the duo.

"That was great Draco!" Harry praised as they happily made their way to the dinner hall.

"Yeah well your not so bad yourself, Harry." Draco praised back.

The duo laughed and then was joined by Hermione who looked irritated and tired. "Hi guys. Just got done with Charms. And now my magic feels exhausted."

Harry and Draco both got on either side of Hermione and put their arm around her. "Then let us take you to lunch." They both said sweetly. Hermione laughed at their antics but didn't stop them as they all walked the rest of the way towards the dinner hall.

Lunch was fun, the H.A. all sat together at the Apache table despite Cody, Seth, David, and Darrick's bad moods, it was fun watching Fred and George joking around and trying to get people to try their products. Harry was one of them, since he felt he should since he helped them out with their money part of the business. Harry's hair turned purple, but luckily Fred and George had the counter pill, so Harry's hair soon became jet black again. Halfway through lunch the owl post came, and everyone watched to see if their owl was among the many owls flying around.

Harry's owl was the easiest to spot since Hedwig is the prettiest of all the owls that flew into the room, and she got plenty of 'ooohs and aaaws' from the students. Hedwig landed in front of Harry and held up her leg so Harry could take the letter she was carrying. Harry gave her a piece of his sandwich then untied the letter. On the front it said _To Harry…_"

"Who is it from?" asked Ginny across the table.

"I don't know I need to read it." Harry replied back not looking up at her, but feeling everyone's gaze on him. Harry opened the letter and read it silently to himself.

_Dear Master Harry Potter,_

_Master Harry Potter this is Dobby! Dobby got a good job at Duraflame since Hogwarts is no more right now. Dobby felt it right to let Harry Potter know that he was here. Dobby would be delighted if Harry Potter came and visited Dobby in the kitchens, like old times. Winky is here to, except Dobby thinks she looks sad especially with all her drinking, it hasn't gotten better from last year. Dobby wondered if master Harry Potter could bring Mistress My-knee to, mistress seems to have an effect on poor Winky. If master Harry Potter can come to see Dobby and Winky go to the fourth floor, and go to the portrait of the wine glass and say __firewhiskey__ then tap the wine twice with your wand. Dobby hopes to see his friends soon!_

_-Dobby_

Harry smiled and showed the letter to Hermione. "Awe that's so sweet!" Hermione cooed hugging the letter close to her. "Harry of course we're going. Tonight." Harry nodded and both him and Hermione went back to their lunch ignoring their friends' curious faces.

The rest of the day was boring for Harry he had Herbology and Charms and nothing much happened in them, just the usual 'get to know each other' thing. Finally dinner came around so the Apache students all dropped off their school bags in their dormitories then headed down to a turkey feast looking dinner. Dinner was full of laughs and burps, and then Heffner stood up from his seat and motioned everyone to be quiet.

"Just a reminder to the students third year and up, Quidditch tryouts will be held one week from today. There will be a sign up sheet on the message board in each of your houses and also a reminder, Hogwarts students are allowed to tryout for the team if they like. I hope for the best to all of you. Thank you!" Heffner said, and then sat down satisfied with his speech.

"So Harry, are you going to tryout?" Draco asked across the table from Harry.

Harry turned from Heffner to Draco. "Yeah, totally. It wouldn't feel right if I didn't besides I don't think I can go another year without playing Quidditch. What about you?"

Draco chuckled then turned away from Harry. "I don't know, I would like to, but I'm not that good. You and I both know that." Harry looked at Draco then leaned in.

"Draco I think you should tryout, the worst that can happen is if they say no." Draco nodded at Harry's logic then went back to his turkey.

"Come on Harry! Hurry up!" Hermione yelled down the hallway where Harry was panting and gasping for breath.

" 'Mione, slow dow-down! I can't keep up with y-you."

Hermione scoffed. "Oh please slow poke! Your worse then Ron when he's just eaten."

Harry glared at her. "That's a pretty bad insult… but anyway you have just dragged me pretty much everywhere in this castle at 10:00 at night. So I'm physically and mentally pooped out."

Hermione giggled. "Fine we'll walk the rest of the way, but you know you should start working out more, since Voldemort is after you. You kinda need to keep in shape." Hermione said taking Harry's hand and walking with him towards the staircase.

"I know… wait a second… do you think I'm fat?" Harry wondered, but he didn't get an answer because Hermione ran off ahead of him. "Girls…" Harry breathed out following her down the candle lit hallway towards the wine portrait.

Harry took out his wand and said _firewhiskey_ then the portrait glowed. This obviously wasn't enough so Harry tapped the wine twice with his wand, then the portrait hole swung into view. House elves of all different sizes and shapes were working in the kitchen all of them barely wearing anything, just a bunch of old dirty rags. Hermione scrunched up her nose at the smell as she grabbed Harry's arm as he walked towards the furnace in the middle of the room. There sat Winky sobbing and drinking her heart out with firewhiskey.

"Master Harry Potter!" a small round headed house elf with different colored socks and a couple different hats on came up to them, and then he bowed. "And of course mistress My-knee."

Harry smiled and went up to the elf. "Dobby! Its great to see you!"

Dobby smiled and hugged Harry. "Dobby was wondering if Harry Potter would actually come, and he did. Dobby also wondered if My-knee would come and help poor Winky out of her depression about Winky's old master Crouch. Dobby couldn't be more pleased!"

Hermione bent down and hugged Dobby next. "It's not a problem Dobby, I would be happy to help. All I need is to talk to poor Winky alone, kay?" Hermione asked indicating the males leave her alone while she worked.

"Okay 'Mione, we'll be over there." Harry said pointing over to a big table full of food.

Hermione nodded and turned back to Winky and sat with her. Harry and Dobby walked over to the table getting a few nasty glares from some of the other house elves in the room. "Dobby, if I may, can I ask you something?"

Dobby looked at Harry as he sat on the table and grabbed a piece of fruit. "Dobby would be happy if Harry Potter would ask Dobby something."

"Great! Um-I was wondering if you saw who attacked Hogwarts?" He asked not sure how to exactly phrase the question, and afraid to offend Dobby somehow.

Dobby started peeling his apple and started speaking quietly. "Dobby did see something. Dobby and the other elves were preparing the feast when big men in dark cloaks came storming up to the castle, in a big rage. Dobby was ordered to leave the premises along with the others, but Dobby disobeyed and crept down to get a closer look." Dobby started sobbing quietly, but wouldn't stop talking. "Dobby saw the leader blasting away stone columns then his hood fell off his head. The big scary man turned around and saw me; he had a bloody red scar cut across his face, and white eyes. Creeped Dobby out, the scary man saw me and blasted me before I could dissapparate. The next morning Dobby found himself lying on cold rumble and saw Headmaster Dumbledore leaning for me." Dobby's eyes had grown wide, and was speaking in a monotone. Harry was worried about him.

"Dobby, thanks for sharing this information with me, it means a lot." Harry said trying to calm the little house elf down.

Dobby snapped out of his trance. "Anything for Master Harry Potter. Dobby says we should check on Winky and mistress My-knee now, it has been a half hour after all." Dobby said in a half crazy laugh. Dobby jumped off the table and headed towards the furnace. Harry followed in deep thought.

Harry and Hermione thanked Dobby and Winky for their time, and set back out towards the Apache tower. Hermione started talking Harry's ear off about what she and Winky either talked about or did, but Harry's mind kept drifting off to Dobby's story about the attack on the castle. Who was the mysterious leader…?

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**Wow! How was that? How did you like the teachers? The classes? I decided it would be fun to add a home ec. class to their schedule so if you want please give me idea's of what to do with that. Please Review! (It would really make my day :)) Thanks! –SR7**


	11. Snape's instructions

**HI! I'm back :) sorry about the wait, I'll try to be better next time since school's over (Hallelujah!). In my story I decided to make Ginny a little manipulative of Harry and Hermione, but it won't be too bad. In the home ec. class I'm contemplating whether or not I should have them take care of a baby for a little while, since it might be to hard for them with all their H.A. duties, so review and tell me if I should or not. Thanks! –SR7**

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It had been two days since Harry and Hermione went to visit Dobby and Winky, and so far Hermione had not said a word to Harry. Harry wondered if it had anything to do with ignoring her when she was trying to talk to him about Winky, he didn't know, and it was hurting him. Draco finally noticed something weird was going on that morning before class. "Mate, what's up with you and Hermione, neither one of you has spoken to each since Monday and it's creeping me out. What happened?"

Harry looked up at Draco and saw the concern on his face. "It's nothing, she's just mad at me and personally she should be."

"Why, what would you ever do to her?"

"That night when we were coming back from the kitchens she was trying to tell me all about Winky, but I was thinking about what Dobby had told me, then the next thing I knew, I was getting slapped on the face by a very angry Hermione. She hasn't spoken to me since then."

Draco looked at his hands and scrunched up his nose. "That so doesn't sound like her. She always gives you a chance to a least explain yourself, why wouldn't she do it now?"

Harry looked down the Apache table to where Hermione was sitting with Ellie and her friends. "I don't know…"

"Look I'm sorry mate, but don't you think we should head to class right now, you know to get your mind off her?" Harry looked up at Draco who was forcing a cheerful smile on his pale face.

"Your right. Lets head to Herbology." Harry said shaking his head once and picking up his school bag. Then Harry and Draco left the Dinner hall towards the gardens where Herbology was being held.

"Class! I want you to know that Madam Green won't be with us today. Sadly this morning she was bitten by one of the rare chomping flesh plants, so she is currently residing in the hospital wing right now. She should be back tomorrow though." Professor Sprout announced to the group of fifth years sitting on various benches in the small courtyard of the garden.

Harry looked over at Hermione, he saw her glance at him, but she quickly turned her head back up to Sprout.

"… So class who can tell me who the first to discover the 'Viola Odorata'?" Professor Sprout asked the class. Harry quickly readjusted his attention to the plump older lady who was walking around looking for hands. Of course Hermione raised her hand.

"The 'Viola Odorata' doesn't have a particular owner that discovered her first. Nobody knows who first did for whoever smells the flowers sweet scent falls dead in their place. Resulting in the 'Viola Odorata' to be the most deadly violet out there today." The Duraflame students looked stunned at the knowledge Hermione kept bringing to every class, even the Hogwarts students looked proud to have her. Hermione smiled at professor Sprout.

"Thank you Miss Granger, excellent as always. Now let us take a journey onto the magnificent road of Viola to see some real 'Viola Odorata's' but please keep your gas masks on and do not take them off. Do I make myself clear?" Sprout wondered passing out the masks.

Everybody agreed, so they were off. After a mile hike up the mountain they finally came to their destination, the group all cautiously walked up to a single flower that looked like any ordinary Violet except for the red spots underneath the petals. "Professor Sprout will it kill you if you touch it?" Blaise asked crouching down to a small flower.

Sprout turned to Blaise. "No, dear, but I beg you don't get carried away. Okay." Blaise nodded, but Harry didn't think it looked like a very truthful nod. Hermione gave a slight scowl at Blaise and Draco who were messing around with the delicate flowers, but when she caught Harry's eye she quickly turned back to her friends.

Draco walked up to Harry after seeing his sad expression. "Hang in there man, she won't stay mad at you forever. Trust me on this one." Harry lifted his downcasted head up to Draco.

"How do you know?"

"Trust me I know."

Harry gave Draco a quizzical look. Draco saw this and walked away with a guilty face on. Harry stared after him. "Dude is such an idiot, but we're all friends with him anyway." Harry chuckled at himself and followed the rest of the group back down the mountain.

At lunch Harry didn't see Hermione or Draco and he was starting to worry. Draco definitely would never miss a meal. He wasn't as bad as Ron was when it came to food, but the man definitely would never miss out on it.

Harry saw Ginny walk into the Dinner hall probably coming from one of her classes, because she still looked tired and exhausted. Harry got up from the Apache table and walked towards her. "Hey Ginny, have you seen either Draco or Hermione?"

Ginny's look went from excited to annoyed. "No. No I haven't seen either of them." She snapped.

Harry was shocked. "Ginny. Why are you acting like this? Have I offended you someway that only girls understand and guys need to get a specialist to understand whatever they offended that girl with?"

Ginny now looked confused. "First of all Harry, I did not understand a word of that. Second Harry, why are you looking for them exactly?"

"Because their my friends, and Hermione has been ignoring me for the past couple days and I'm not totally sure why." Harry said rushing his words together.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Harry." She started smoothly taking a step closer to him. "You do realize that you have other friends other than Hermione and Draco right?" she battered her eyelashes together flirtingly.

Harry was starting to feel scared; he started to slowly retreat back to his seat. "Yes Ginny, I do realize that, but right now I really need to talk to them. It's important."

Ginny let out a big huff. "Fine, but I'll be at the Cortez table if you need me." After she said this she flipped her hair and strutted back to her seat. Harry was determined to find his friends, he search everywhere in the castle and asked other students if they had seen them, but nobody had.

Harry was about to give up when he saw his friends walking up to him from the potions classroom. "Hey Harry." Draco said giving Harry a small smile.

Harry stood there dumbfounded, but he got over that as he hugged Hermione tearing up. "Hermione please tell me what I did to offend you. I don't like it when we don't talk, it's not cool, please tell me." Harry pleaded.

Hermione laughed. "Harry, I would never hate you. I was just being my annoying prideful self, but Draco came and talked to me. He told me the whole story, and I'm so sorry for snapping at you. Draco helped me see a new light and I'm so thankful to him, but Harry, promise me we won't do this again. Promise me that we talk about it before we snap at each other. I don't want to bicker constantly like me and Ron do."

Harry smiled. "I promise 'Mione." Before either one of them could let go, Draco had engulfed them in his arms and started jumping around.

"I'm so glad you two are friends again, it's so weird when your not. It almost feels, I don't know… unnatural." The friends all laughed together and headed back up to the Apache common room.

In the common room everybody reluctantly got out their homework and started it. Harry, Hermione, and Draco all got a table by a fireplace out in the corner of the room so they wouldn't be disturbed. "Hermione can you remind me about a fact about the Viola Odorata?" Draco asked.

Hermione looked up from her charms essay she was writing. "Sure Draco, what fact do you need to know about them?"

"All of them."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Draco were you paying attention at all during the lesson?"

Draco looked amused. "Absolutely positively not."

Hermione rolled her eyes but changed seats with Harry so she could help Draco. Harry was working on his essay for professor Dunn for potions and he was just about done, Harry decided it was probably the easiest essay he had ever done for a professor.

"Excuse me, Harry sir." A shy looking first year boy squeaked as he approached the friends.

Harry looked up from his work at the boy. "Yes? What is it?"

The boy was turning red in the face. "Professor Snape told me to give this to you." Harry took the letter the boy was holding out to him, and as soon as he did the little boy bolted back up to the dormitories. Harry looked down at the letter and carefully opened it.

_Potter,_

_Like I said on your first day of potions I would like to discuss some very serious stuff with the H.A. Have each of your members to quietly get to the H.Q. by midnight tonight. If they are caught, it can be dangerous. There is a secret passageway to the floor above the entrance by the Apache portrait hole. The picture is a picture of the famous painting 'The Last Supper' use it. I will meet you all tonight._

_Sincerely, S. Snape_

_(P.S. what is your favorite color?)_

Harry gave the letter to Draco and Hermione to read. "How are we going to get the whole H.A. to the H.Q. uncaught by midnight? There are teachers and creepy creatures all around this place." Harry said thinking out loud to his friends.

They were both still reading the letter when Draco asked. "Why the heck does Snape want to know your favorite color?"

Hermione groaned then whacked Draco on the back of the head. "Honestly Draco you are such a twit sometimes. Obviously Harry's favorite color is going to be the password to the painting. Everybody knows that people usually give a hint of what a password is in their letters. Duh!"

Draco glared at her. "Well SORRY! Some of us aren't as bright as others, thank you very much!"

"Guys! Stop! We still need to figure out how we're getting everybody to the H.Q. undiscovered." Harry groaned trying to get his friends back on track.

"Sorry." Hermione and Draco muttered together.

"Okay then. I say one way is to use a disillusionment spell so it's easier to hide if someone is onto us, and then a couple of the smaller people can use my invisibility cloak to get around. Any other suggestions?" Harry wondered looking at his friends.

Draco was silent nodding at Harry's ideas but Hermione spoke up. "How about we just duplicate your cloak a couple times. Sure it won't work as well as the original, but it could work well enough." Harry stared at her and smiled.

"That's brilliant Hermione! Lets go do it right now while not a lot of people are here." Hermione and Draco agreed then followed Harry up to the fifth year boy's dorm.

Hermione was pretty impressed by their dorm room as she kept walking around and smiling. Harry and Draco went straight to Harry's trunk and searched for his cloak, which was at the bottom of the load. Once they dug it up Hermione reminded them the charm would only last for five hours so they would have to do this all again. Harry and Draco nodded then let Hermione cast the spell on the cloak. It worked, seventeen new invisibility cloaks appeared. "Great." Sighed Draco. "Now how are we going to deliver them?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. Before Draco knew it Harry and Hermione dragged him out of the room and into the common room. "Alright Draco, you take this part of the cloaks and give them to the Duraflame members in our group. Harry you give these to the Hogwarts dudes, and I'll give the rest to the girls. Okay?" Hermione ordered dividing up the cloaks between each other. The boys nodded and all split up to find their assigned people.

The trio rounded up everybody in the H.A. and led them to an empty classroom on the eighth floor. Once everybody was safely inside and they made sure they weren't being followed they started the meeting.

"Alright guys, today we received a letter from Snape wanting to meet us in the H.Q. at midnight, but unfortunately this place has more night patrollers around then Hogwarts so it will be almost impossible to get from your common room to the seventh floor unnoticed. Snape told us about a secret passage way from the Apache portrait hole to the eighth floor, so we can use that, but for those of you not in Apache I'm sorry but you will have to find some other way to the seventh floor." Harry paused for a moment to catch his breath as he watched his members intently staring at him holding onto each word. "Hermione had the brilliant idea of duplicating my invisibility cloak so everybody has one, but the spell only lasts five hours so if right now is 9:30 then we have a little more than enough time to make it. Hermione can you please recast the spell on my cloak because it took long enough to find all of you." Harry stated glaring at everyone in the room. All who gave Harry, Hermione, and Draco a hard time to find.

Hermione nodded and stood up from her seat to cast the spell. Once she did Harry and Draco passed them out. "Harry what if one of us doesn't make it?" Neville asked with uncertainty. Seamus and Dean both nodded in agreement.

"Yeah Harry, the Pueblo house is the farthest away from the H.Q. how are we supposed to make it?" Seamus asked.

Harry looked at the three new Pueblos calmly. "Just leave your common room earlier than the rest of us so you don't have as tough as time getting there." Neville, Seamus, and Dean nodded, and then copied the rest of the group trying on their cloaks.

Ginny was inspecting herself, and then walked up to Harry. "Harry, do you think this fits me right?" she asked him sweetly.

Harry scrunched up his nose at the girl, but saw Ron beaming at him so he knew he couldn't blow Ginny off right there. "Yeah Ginny it fits fine, like it should." He said sighing.

Ginny smirked at something behind Harry, but he didn't want to be rude and follow her gaze so he walked passed her towards Ron. Ron speed walked up to Harry. "Mate! See what I mean. Ginny is totally interested in you. You should really give my sister a chance."

Harry groaned. "Sorry Ron, but I've told you this before I-DON'T-LIKE-GINNY-THAT-WAY-AT-ALL. Why is it your lifelong mission to get Ginny and me together? I thought you would be more protective of her."

Ron blushed. "It's not that exactly. I just want her to be happy, and she has had a crush on you since she was seven. I just don't want to crush her spirits."

Harry closed his eyes then opened them again facing Ron. "I understand your concerns mate, but can you let me choose who I want to date? It would feel a whole lot better with knowing that you support me even though I'm not dating your sister."

Ron smile faded a little, but nodded. "Right, I understand. Sorry about pushing you all these years, I just wanted the best for Ginny. I didn't even stop to ask what you wanted, I'm sorry." Ron paused for a few moments, then looked up and behind Harry. Harry was about to look behind him to, but Ron grabbed his shoulder. "Mate, remember when I told you I had that huge crush on Hermione?"

Harry silently groaned. "Yes. Why?"

Ron lowered his voice down to a whisper. "Well I want you to know, that I'm over her. That night you and Draco confronted me in the library trying to talk to Hermione, I think you also knocked some sense into me. I tried imagining my life with Hermione, and I just… couldn't. We would be always fighting and arguing there wouldn't be any happy days, and could you imagine if we actually named one of our kids Hugo? I sure can't." Ron said disgustingly. "Also I noticed how much you and Hermione like each other. You two barely fight, and when you do you both always get over it and forgive each other at the end. I'm sorry I didn't see this before because I was so wrapped up in my own feeling, but you and Hermione belong together." Ron said more kindly this time patting Harry on the back.

Harry smiled. "Thanks Ron that means the world to me coming from you."

"So best mates again?"

Harry thought about this. "Ron I appreciate your speech you just gave me, but you still haven't forgiven Draco yet and I-."

"But that bastard hasn't forgiven me yet either!" Ron cut in losing his temper.

"Yeah I realize that, but he talked to me about it already and he's willing to if you are."

Ron's face softened. "Your right, I'm just as much to blame as he is. I'll go do it right now." He said taking in a deep breath then starting over towards where Draco and Blaise were talking.

Harry watched Ron walk over to the two boys, but Hermione blocked his view. "So Harry what did Ron talk to you about? It looked like you two were in a pretty deep discussion." Hermione sat on the chair besides Harry and indicated he do the same to the chair behind him.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, you don't have to worry about me and Ron being friends again I think we got that part covered."

Hermione beamed at him. "Thank you so much for forgiving him!" Hermione then tackled Harry with one of her famous hugs. "Is that why Ron is talking to Draco? To settle their disagreements?"

Harry looked over to where Ron was holding a hand out to Draco who stared at it for a second then shook it. "Yeah, and I think we're all going to be fine in that department."

At 11:00 that night in the Apache common room Harry was making sure everybody who was a member in the H.A. from Apache was there. "Alright it seems like everybody is here, so remember the plan. Keep your cloaks on, be sneaky about it, and don't take your cloaks off until we enter the H.Q." The small group of five nodded.

Draco stuck his head into the portrait hole. "Psst, Harry!" he hissed. "The coast is clear out here. Hermione is just checking the eighth floor right now, so lets start heading out."

Harry nodded and ushered the invisible group out into the hall. (Before this the trio had agreed on _emerald_ to be the password to The Last Supper portrait.)

Harry crept up to the portrait and said the password then portrait Jesus let them enter. The group followed Harry quietly down the tunnel trying to be careful not to bump into the person in front of them.Then Harry got to the exit for the other portrait, but did not dare go through it until Hermione opened it.

Five minutes passed and finally Hermione opened the portrait hole. "Harry take my hand then do the same to the person behind you. Make a chain so we know that everybody is here." Harry took Hermione's hand then took Draco's in his other. Draco didn't mind that he had to hold Harry's hand because on his other side he was holding Ellie's.

Hermione quietly led the group down the wall so they could stay hidden even if they had invisibility cloaks it was always better to be safe then sorry. Suddenly Hermione stopped, and Harry bumped into her, but she didn't move. She squeezed Harry's hand, and he got the message. Right in front of them Professor Hawk was guarding the staircase down to the seventh floor. Harry caught his breath, and apparently so did the rest of the group.

Not a sound was heard except for Hawk's heavy breathing. Harry didn't know what to do, turning back wasn't an option, and going forward was certainly going to be difficult. Harry thought about petrifying Hawk but thought better of it since after this was over Hawk would be awfully suspicious.

While Harry was busy trying to think of a plan he barely noticed Hermione let go of his left hand. When he did it was to late Hermione was nowhere near him. Harry started to panic. Where did Hermione go?

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" with that said Hawk went as stiff as a board and fell face forward onto the cold ground. Hermione threw off her hood and knelt besides Hawk, her wand still out.

Harry was beside himself as he threw his hood off to and let go of Draco's hand. "Hermione! You just blew our cover! You weren't supposed to petrify him. What if he starts asking questions later? Huh? How are you supposed to answer them?" he yelled angrily.

"Shut up Harry! It was the only way to get passed him. Now help me lift him up and store him in the broom closet until we get back, then we can erase his memory." Hermione snapped back not letting Harry yell at her so rudely without her explaining her plan.

Harry was heaving his chest in and out, and then his expression softened. "Sorry 'Mione I didn't know."

"Heck yeah you didn't." Harry shook his head then helped Hermione lift Hawk into the closest then the group resumed down the staircase without any more trouble.

When they arrived at the window Cody said "_pro agravis_" then each member stepped into the window landing in the secret H.Q. Once everybody was safely in they removed their cloaks and threw them down on the floor where it would later disappear. The group made their way to the tree house and climbed up finding the members from the Serra house there.

Blaise stood up from his seat as soon as he caught sight of Harry. "Potter, no other groups have arrived yet, not even the Pueblo members." Harry looked at the clock that was mounted on the wall it read 11:42.

Harry sighed. "They were supposed to be here first, where are they?"

Blaise didn't know what to say to this so he kept quiet glancing at the Serra girls. Ellie spoke for the first time. "How about we just wait until professor Snape gets here before worrying to much, okay?"

Draco quickly agreed. "She's right, Snape always knows what to do.

The rest of the group decided to just stick with that plan. They waited for several minutes that felt like hours then they heard someone enter the H.Q. Everybody drew out their wands (it was precaution) and waited. Finally Snape appeared in the door way followed by three Pueblos and two Cortez students. "Sorry Harry, we were almost caught by some of the Duraflame ghosts, and couldn't get away, but we saw Snape walking down the corridor with Neville, Seamus, and Dean so we decided to follow them." Ron told him sadly.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, and I know we were supposed to get here first but we were caught by Dunn and couldn't get away, that is until Snape came and bailed us out telling Dunn we were supposed to serve detention with him. It was all really brilliant!" Harry nodded not smiling.

"Kay, peoples please sit down so we can hear what Professor Snape has to say." Harry ordered the group who all quickly got into their seats. Snape took the guest seat by Harry's and sat down.

"I was told by Dumbledore that Potter and Malfoy were the leaders of his team supposedly now called Hogwarts Army or in other terms, the H.A. Well for those of you who thought I was in league with Voldemort, your wrong!" Snape snapped. "I am merely Dumbledore's spy, so no questions about that." Snape said more directly at the Weasley twins, who started whistling innocently. "I have gained some information regarding Voldemort. He in fact did not cause the destruction of Hogwarts, someone who used to be a faithful friend of his did. Voldemort didn't directly use a name, just that this person teaches at this school." He droned darkly. "It can be anyone. If I were any of you I would not trust any Duraflame professors for any of them could be the wanted one."

The group sat sinking in what Snape had just said, and then Parvati spoke. "Professor, do you have any advice for us that would help us track down this person?"

Snape stared at the girl. "Miss Patil, the only information I have yet for you is to find out their background, the ministry is already doing that, but I don't trust them. Just like they still don't trust Potter. But don't go asking to many questions or someone might find out what we're trying to do here." Parvati nodded at Snape's words.

The room was silent for a moment, but Harry felt Hermione shift uncomfortably besides him. "Professor? I was wondering if you could help us with that trunk over there." She said pointing at the padlocked trunk that nobody could open. "Apparently this trunk has been here for a long time, but nobody can open it. Maybe you can try?" she asked hopefully.

Snape got up and glided over to the trunk. He examined it for a second then picked it up. "I will take this back to my office to be worked on then I will inform one of you if I ever get it opened. Goodnight to you all." Snape said quickly walking out the door.

Draco did something weird with his eyes then shook it off. "Ok then, if that's it. I think we better head back to our common rooms." The group agreed and Hermione again duplicated Harry's cloak and gave each person one, then they all marched out. Before Harry could step back into the window Blaise held him back.

"Harry." He whispered frantically. "I picked this today. Don't tell anybody I did, I just think it might be a useful tool in our operation." Then Blaise thrusted a small box into his hands. "Wear these." Blaise instructed giving Harry some nose plugs which he quickly put into his nostrils. "Ready?" Blaise asked about to open the box. Harry nodded, and then Blaise lifted the lid to reveal a single flower, but not just any flower, the _Viola Odorata_.

Harry stood there petrified to his spot, and then Blaise closed the lid again taking out his nose plugs. Harry came back down to earth and did the same thing. "Blaise! What the heck are you doing with that? It can kill you!"

Blaise sighed. "I know, I just thought it can be useful if we need it for an emergency. Look we can stuff it here." Blaise said walking past Harry to a fern bush, then he dug up a little dirt then stuffed the box in. "There, that way we know nobody can open the box."

Harry shook his head but decided he didn't have time for this. "Fine, but just go and catch up with your group, okay?"

Blaise nodded and left the room. Harry followed suit and caught up to his group where Draco was obliviating Hawk. Once he was finished the group quickly made there way back to the Apache common room.

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**There you go! How was that? Well I would really like it if you would review, it might motivate me to write faster, but I admit this week I really have no accuse other than writers block so sorry about the delay. :) And remember I still want to know about what you think I should do about the home ec. / baby thing. Thanks! –SR7**


	12. Our pride and joys

**Hello! Here is the next chapter it mainly focuses on the classes and not the H.A. meetings, but I thought I should throw this chapter in anyway. I think my last chapter was really sad so this chapter is going to be a lot more happy and cheerful. Please read and review! Thanks! –SR7**

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"Harry… _Harry_. Harry wake up!" Draco yelled as he was shaking Harry awake.

"Mph- do you mind?" Harry asked him sleepily.

"No, I don't, now Hermione is waiting for us in the common room. You decided to sleep in so we have to hurry if we are going to make breakfast and our defense class on time." Draco said while slinging is bag over his shoulder and starting for the door. "We'll give you five minutes."

Harry groaned, but got up anyway. That night Harry had dreamed or rather had a nightmare about the mysterious dark leader that Dobby had described, and it didn't help his nightmare with Snape's warning going through his head. Harry groggily got dressed and stuffed his bag with his homework then headed down to the common room.

Hermione and Draco were on the couch looking at the Latin book Hermione and Ellie found. When they heard Harry, Hermione quickly stuffed the book in her bag and both her and Draco jumped up from the couch. "Did you sleep well last night?" Hermione wondered as the trio left the common room towards the dinner hall.

Harry shuffled his feet. "No, I had a nightmare about that man Dobby described to me. For some reason I keep dreaming like I'm Dobby walking up to the man then seeing only white eyes and a red gash on the mans face then he blasts something at me then I wake up."

"You need to tell Dumbledore about these nightmares, he can help you plus it could be useful information for him. Please at least consider seeing him?" Hermione begged him after seeing his disturbing look.

"Why should I tell Dumbledore? This doesn't concern him, but if these nightmares keep happening then I'll consider seeing him." Harry added after seeing Hermione's glare and stern look she was giving him.

Hermione's face lifted but she didn't say anything. She just turned her head back and preceded the rest of the trip in silence. The trio got their usual seats towards the end of the Apache table where Cody, Seth, David, and Darrick were sitting. Cody lifted his head up from his food when the trio sat across from them. "Hey guys!" he greeted. "Are you three dreading today like everyone fifth year and up is dreading?" Cody asked with a sarcastic smile plastered on his face, which quickly turned into a frown.

"Why what's today?" Hermione asked dawning a confused look on her face.

Seth snorted some of his pumpkin juice back into his cup. "Has Dumbledore seriously not told you guys about Fridays?" he asked trying to contain his giggles.

The trio exchanged looks with each other then shook their heads at the boys across from them. "Would someone tell us what Friday's are already?" Draco asked annoyed.

The Duraflame friends all looked at each other then David sighed. "Since these blocknuts won't dare to say anything about it I'll tell you." David gave one last glare at his friends then turned to the trio. "A couple years ago (Mollock) Heffner and his wife, Felicity Heffner started a new class that teaches young witches and wizards how to take care of a home, family, and to do that and have a job, hence the name home economics. For the whole year this year we will all have a partner who will be our wife and/or husband. We will have to take care of a baby, take care of our "house", and pretend to have a job. Then at the end of the year Mollock and Felicity will grade us on how well we took care of our baby, how well our house looks, and what are job is and what it pays."

"Do we get to choose who we're married to?" Draco wondered.

David squinted one eye then shook his head. "Kinda, we are going to have to take a blood test today to see who we are most compatible with. So basically we're with whomever best matches us. Oh! And we have to be with someone from our year, not with one of the sixth or seventh years." David exclaimed remembering that small detail.

Cody nodded at the explanation in embarrassment. "Yup and that makes it totally awkward when you get older and your ready to get married, because basically you already know who your best match is, but you try to ignore it. Four years ago a dude named Joe Kin got married right out of Duraflame to his love of his life Marissa Blue, but they weren't paired together during this activity. Marissa was paired with this other dude named Mark Casey and two years after she was married to Joe she just all of a sudden got this desire to be with Mark. So she left Joe to be with him, and they got married and are still married. But she broke Joe's heart and three months after she left him, he died, but nobody knows why. Creepy right?" Cody told the group creeping everybody out.

Draco had the worst look of anybody. "So does this mean we have to marry whoever we're paired up with in this? I don't want to die!" he whined.

Darrick rolled his eyes. "Don't worry you don't have to marry whoever you get paired up with. Joe probably died because of a physical body issue Cody is just making that story up."

"Am not!" Cody shouted defending his word. "That is a true story. My older brother Chris is friends with Marissa, I've met her and Mark and Marissa told us about Joe and his unusual death. Even Chris told us his side of the story since he was mutual friends with Joe." Cody stated folding his arms together.

Darrick rolled his eyes again. "Whatever."

Harry let out a low whistle. "So it is all the fifth, sixth, and seventh years. In the whole school?" he asked trying to get off the Joe and Marissa topic.

Seth nodded. "Yep, except each year gets their own mentors. I think this year fifth year's get Professor Kelly, Professor Phoebe, Professor Pore, and Professor Goldby. The sixth years get Professor Sprout, Professor Grubbly-Plank, Professor Dunn, and Professor Hawk. And the Seventh Years get Madam Heffner, Professor McGonagall, Headmaster Heffner, and Professor Snape." Seth said counting off the names with his fingers.

David nodded. "Fifth years get all the young professors." He said smirking.

Darrick turned to David. "Your sick!"

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

"Am not!"

"Are to..." this argument went on.

While David and Darrick were arguing and Cody, Seth, and Draco were encouraging it Hermione leaned in towards Harry.

"Did you hear what Seth said?" she asked in a whisper.

"Um, 'Mione your going to have to be more specific so I know what your talking about."

"Seth said professor Grubbly-Plank. She's Hagrid's substitute, that means Hagrid isn't here." Harry nodded.

"I know. I was going to ask Dumbledore about it, but when I tried to walk up to him last time, he ignored me and walked off. It was weird." Hermione furrowed her eyebrows together and returned to her normal sitting position deep in thought.

Harry stared at her for a second but then heard Draco trying to talk to him. "Mate… did you hear me? I said we have to head to DADA now."

"Oh, right sorry. Uh, lets go then." Harry and Draco said good-bye to the group then walked off to the defense classroom.

Harry and Draco walked into the DADA classroom to find Professor Pore and Professor Goldby setting up big brick blocks around to classroom, when Goldby saw them he smiled. "Ahh, Potter, Malfoy I'm glad you're here early. Would you help us finish setting up the room for today's lesson?"

"Yeah, sure. What do you want us to do?" Harry wondered throwing his bag against the wall out of the way.

"Can you a Mr. Malfoy levitate that brick box up in the middle of the classroom then set a freezing charm on it so it will stay, then can you assist me and Professor Pore on the _reducto_ spell today? I assume both of you know it." Harry and Draco nodded, Goldby beamed at them. "Great! The box is over there. Good luck."

Harry and Draco walked over to the box and took out their wands. "Do you think it is as heavy as it looks?" Draco asked knocking on the brick's surface.

"I don't know I guess we'll have to try it to find out." Harry said pushing Draco to the other side of the box so there would be more support. "Alright on the count of three 1…2…3. _Wingardium Leviosa!_" Harry and Draco shouted at the same time. The box slowly floated up till it was twelve feet in the air. Harry and Draco were struggling trying to keep the spell from breaking, they eventually had to get on their knees and hold onto their wands with both hands. "Draco! Do the spell now!" Harry hissed tasting the sweat he was producing.

Draco hesitantly took off his part of the spell, which made the box drop a foot in the air and a very exhausted Harry scream in pain. Draco quickly casted the freezing charm, "_Immobulus!_" The box froze in the air, and Harry collapsed to the ground panting heavily.

"You alright mate?" Draco asked helping Harry up.

"Erm, yeah, I am. Thanks." Harry let out wiping the sweat off his forehead. Draco did the same and collapsed in a chair that conveniently appeared behind him.

"Potter! Malfoy! Are you two alright?" Goldby asked panicked at seeing his students like they were. "I'm sorry, I would have helped you guys but Pore wanted me to help him move some books into his office. I'm sorry!"

"Its fine Professor." Draco gasped.

"You two don't have to still help me and Pore with today's lesson if you don't want to. You two should sit and rest, you don't want your magic to get to exhausted." Goldby suggested trying to help his two helpless students.

"Thanks Professor, I hope you don't mind me asking but how do you know that our magic might be exhausted?" Harry asked confused, right now he didn't care how sore he felt.

"Before I took the job here I was a Auror for the ministry I helped take down death eaters. Part of an Auror's training is to know medical things to in order to help the sick or injured on your team. Judging by the way you two keep clutching your stomachs I can tell that you two are a little exhausted by how much magic you had to use in order to lift that box. If you use more magic than you usually do on a certain thing it can make you dizzy, sick, or have a stabbing pain. That box you two lifted was 300 pounds worth of brick. That's pretty amazing for two fifth year students. So if you like you can just help me and Pore today or you two can go to the library to study. Which would you like to do?"

Harry and Draco looked at each other then back at Goldby. "Professor, I don't think our magic is that damaged. We would like to stay and help out."

Goldby looked impressed. "Well I must say that's pretty impressive that you're not to tired to do this. You two are strong troopers."

"Thanks Professor." Harry and Draco simultaneously said together.

Goldby nodded and left the two boys where they were to talk for a few minutes till class officially started. When the people started entering the room, Harry and Draco sat on Pore's desk waiting for Pore to give them their signal.

"Good morning class." Pore grumbled.

The class mumbled their reply back then Pore started the lesson. "Alright, who can tell me what spell blasts inanimate objects away?" A girl with black hair that was put up in a ponytail and with Pueblo blue robes on raised her hand. "Yes, Grace?"

"Sir, isn't the spell the _reducto _curse?" she asked in a soft voice that had the tone of a know-it all like Hermione in it.

"Right Grace. The 'reducto' curse blasts inanimate objects away, but do not use it on people. I warn you." Pore said glaring death stares at the students. "Anyway, today Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy will be assisting me with the spell. Mr. Potter you first." He said motioning Harry to come over by him. Harry did and took out his wand. "Alright, Mr. Potter please take out that brick box in the far corner of the room." Pore said pointing.

Harry looked to see a brick box floating in the air by the coat racks, but it wasn't nearly as big as the box he and Draco levitated. Harry took his position and pointed his wand at the box. "_Reducto!_" as soon as the curse left his wand it gathered into a big ball of light and shot itself at the box taking it out leaving only a few of its dust particles behind.

Pore stood there dumbfounded at Harry's power. He finally squeaked out. "Good job Mr. Potter. And that class is the 'reducto' curse. I will have Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy walking around the room in case anyone needs help. Please only use the spell on the many, many brick boxes set up all over the room, but leave the biggest box currently floating above you alone. That will be used later for the seventh years. Start!"

The students all found a box to practice on. Some of them blasted a little chunk out on one of their many tries but many of them ended up hitting the ceiling or a window. Harry and Draco had their work cut out for them just trying to block spells from hitting other students let alone actually assisting someone with a spell. Towards the end Grace had asked for some help so Harry came up to her keeping his eyes on alert for a misfire.

"Harry, can you help me? I usually do great in every subject, but I'm not that great in this class. How do you put so much power in your spells?" she asked expectantly.

Harry looked at the girl. "You know, you kind of remind me of my friend Hermione she-."

"Oooh I know Hermione!" Grace squealed. "We have charms together. She is a very bright witch, and pretty to."

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, that's right. Well she can do any subject, but she struggles on DADA, she's not bad but she's not her usual perfect self either."

Grace nodded. "I guess I'm exactly like her then."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know about that. Well anyway lets see your spell work." Harry helped Grace with her wand movements and the force of her voice, and so she was the only one to successfully blast a whole box away.

Pore sighed. "Well class, have a good weekend I'll see you all later." The class all filed out of the classroom onto their next class leaving an annoyed professor behind to clean up his classroom.

"Harry do you know where the home ec class is?" Draco asked as they made their way down the corridor towards the staircase. Harry thought for a second.

"You know, I don't think anybody told us. Do you think anybody here would know?" Draco shrugged and looked around just like Harry. Harry caught sight of a black ponytail walking down a different staircase at the other end of the hall. "Grace! Hey wait up!" Harry yelled running towards her with Draco trailing behind him.

Grace turned around to see who was calling her. "Hey Harry, Draco. What's up?"

"Are you headed to the home ec class?" Draco asked looking into her big brown eyes.

"Yeah, I am. Actually everybody that was just in DADA should be to, but their taking their break a little early." She said shrugging rubbing her tan skin.

"Would you show us where the classroom is?" Harry asked her.

Grace smiled at the duo. "Of course come this way!"

Grace led them down the rest of the stair then down an elevator (Grace and Harry had to explain the elevator to Draco) the elevator took them down below the school until there was a long hallway. Grace told them that the room is located under the ocean floor hidden from muggle machines. But you can still see the water surrounding all the rooms like you really were under the water. She took them to a room that had a 5 labeled on the door. Inside was a humungous room circular room with many doors along the circumference of the wall. A couple students were sitting on the couches and/or beanbag chairs already, but Harry didn't know any of them.

"Harry! Draco!" Two voices screamed behind them. Harry and Draco turned around to find Ellie and Hermione standing behind them then engulfing them in a tight hug.

"Hey guys!" Draco said happily slinging an arm over Ellie.

"Hands off Malfoy!" Cody casually said walking into the room. Draco groaned but removed his arm off her.

The friends all got seats in the middle of the room, and soon every fifth year in Duraflame and Hogwarts were in the room waiting impatiently. Then finally the professors walked into the room, but Professor Kelly and Professor Phoebe strutted more than walked in.

"Hello students! Let me explain what we are doing here…" Phoebe said smiling and explaining all the rules and what they would be doing. "…So even though we will only be meeting on Fridays each couple is responsible for their baby, for cleaning their house, and taking care of their "life" during the week and weekends. Lets get started on the blood tests then." Phoebe exclaimed taking out a couple knives and handing them to the other professors. "Please line up and one of us will cut your palm slightly and you will donate some drops of your blood into this goblet."

The students all very hesitantly got up and lined up at one of the four professors. Neville's face turned white when he saw Kelly cut Seamus's palm and force him to deposit his blood into the goblet. Luckily the professors healed everyone's palm right after they were done with them. When it was Harry's turn Phoebe cut a slit across his palm, but Harry didn't even flinch. Phoebe noticed this and looked up at him. "Potter you must be pretty strong since you didn't react to that."

Harry shrugged. "Over the years I've gotten used to it. And last June I was cut across the palm in that very spot so I guess I'm immune to it." Harry nodded after Phoebe healed his hand and he walked back to his seat where Neville was still looking sick. "Are you going to be okay Neville?"

Neville clutched his stomach and nodded. "I think so, I'm just not all to comfortable around blood…or knives."

Harry nodded and patted Neville on the shoulder reassuringly. Finally everyone had finished with their blood test. Then Kelly walked up to the front of the group. "Alright students Professor Pore is going to stir the blood all together and then we will get our results so until then, you can all just mingle amongst each other." She smiled at the group then walked away.

Harry turned back to his friends where Ron was talking. "Okay Professors Kelly and Phoebe are hot, but I'm seriously starting to lose interest."

Draco nodded. "Agreed, my tall red headed weasel friend." Then he and Ron actually gave each other a high five. Hermione looked pleased, as did the rest of the group unbeknownst to Ron and Draco.

They talked about H.A. tactics the rest of the time until Pore and Goldby finally announced the results were in. They started listing off the couples assigned to each other, and then he finally got to naming the names the H.A. cared about the most. "…Draco Malfoy and Ellie Beck." Draco gave a silent cheer and ignored Cody's death glare. "Cody Beck and Grace West." Cody turned his head to the cute little Pueblo who gave him a shy smile. "Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown. Seamus Finnegan and Parvati Patil. Neville Longbottom and Hannah Abbott. Dean Thomas and Susan Bones. Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger…"

Time stopped for Harry as he heard Pore say he and Hermione were going to be a couple for this project, he only came back to earth when Seth slapped his back trying to congratulate him. Hermione gave Harry a small smile then turned back to Pore.

"Alright now that I have told you who your partner is I want you and your partner to go and choose a door and stand by it. Do not enter until I say so though." Pore warned.

Harry bounced up and offered to help Hermione up which she happily obliged to. Harry and Hermione chose to stand next to a brown mahogany door next to Draco and Ellie's door. "Alright when you enter your 'home' I want you to look around and find the nursery then locate a baby doll that will be in the crib and cast the spell _bambino _your doll should transform into a real baby who you will take care of this year. Name your child then write the baby's name on a piece of parchment and leave it on the counter for us to collect later. Oh, and the baby should resemble to look like both you and your partner." Pore said then smirked.

Goldby rolled his eyes. "Okay enough of this. Everyone please enter your home now."

All the students happily did. Harry and Hermione opened their door to reveal a comfy cottage house living room and kitchen. The walls were log and the floor was a smooth bamboo. A chandelier hung above the small kitchen, which contained a granite top for the counters and steel kitchen appliances. Harry followed Hermione towards another door at the other side of the room, but not before steeling a glance at the big leather couches. Hermione opened the door and inside was a small cute nursery that had white walls, several stuffed animals, pictures of animals that hung on the walls, and a white crib in it.

Harry and Hermione walked up to the baby doll that looked so lifeless. "Would you like to cast the spell Hermione?" Harry asked her softly and carefully as she lifted the baby and put it into Harry's arms.

"Yes Harry I really want." Hermione took out her wand and smiled. "_Bambino!_" Suddenly the baby doll Harry was holding started vibrating and twitching until Harry felt flesh instead of plastic. "Harry! Look it's a girl!" Harry looked down at a cute little baby that had his emerald green eyes and had some of Hermione's brown hair. The little cutie looked up at Harry in wonder and a smile slowly creeped up on her face then she held up her hand trying to reach Harry's glasses.

Harry looked up at Hermione. "She's perfect." He started to feel tears fill up in his eyes. He never had a real family before and now he has Hermione and their cute little baby girl even though they might not be married and the baby was a spell. This was good enough for him.

Hermione took the baby from Harry and started rocking her. "What do you think we should name her?"

Harry thought for a second. "How about Taylor. In Spanish Taylor means beautiful, happiness, and peace." Harry stared at Hermione whose face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh wow Harry, I love it!" she ran up and hugged him making sure she didn't crush the baby while she did it though. As soon as she let go the room turned into a cute room just for Taylor. The walls turned a pale green with splashes of blue, pink, and yellow everywhere (you would think this would look crazy but if you have the right painter do this it turns out really cool) the rug turned a pale blue, and the closet filled itself with Taylor's clothes.

Harry and Hermione couldn't stop smiling. Harry went to write Taylor's name down on a parchment just like Pore said to do while Hermione put clothes on Taylor. When she came out of the nursery Taylor had a cute yellow sundress on with a yellow and white headband that made her look even cuter. Hermione handed Taylor over the Harry who happily took her. Then they exited their "home" to see the others and to introduce Taylor.

"Harry! Check it out! Me and Lavender have a boy and his name is Devon!" Ron yelled excitedly running towards Harry and Hermione. "And who is this?" he wondered catching a sight of Taylor.

"This is Taylor. Me and Harry's baby girl." Hermione cooed tickling Taylor's tummy making her giggle.

"Wow Harry you and Hermione sure do have a cute one there." Ron said pointing at Taylor smiling.

"Yeah we do don't we." Harry replied back watching Hermione walking over to Lavender to meet Devon.

"Harry!" a voiced yelled behind him. Harry turned around to see Draco and Ellie practically skipping out of their house with an adorable baby girl with silky blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. "Harry, check this out. Me and Ellie's baby girl, we named her Bella. Ya like?" Draco asked unable to hide his smiles.

Harry laughed. "Yeah mate she's beautiful." This made Draco and Ellie both gleam. Then Ellie headed towards Hermione and Lavender to talk to them.

Draco looked at Harry. "Aren't you forgetting something? Who is that cutie your holding there?"

Harry smiled and looked down at his little angel. "This is Taylor."

"Cute! Hmmm, Harry, Hermione, and Taylor Potter." Draco mused with a goofy smile on his face, which earned him a thump on the head.

"Shut up Draco, we're not actually married." Harry hissed.

"Yeah, sure whatever you say." Draco said unconvinced.

The group met the rest of the little family's and then all sat back down in the main room again. "I see all of you have perfect looking little baby's, well I want to remind you that they will grow a little over time, then on the last day of this class all the babies are going to magically transform back into a baby doll. I know it seems so harsh, but all of you are way to young to keep a baby, especially since none of you are married. I know it will be sad that day, but I assure you one day each of you will have a little pride and joy of your own to care for. We'll see you all later have a good weekend." Phoebe said getting a lot of boos when she said they couldn't keep the babies.

The fifth years all made their way up to the main hallway, it was a little after lunch but Heffner said that since Friday's they only had two classes, then could have lunch later.

Harry and Hermione took Taylor to the Dinner hall and ate their lunch while they also fed Taylor applesauce. Harry stared at Hermione making baby noises at Taylor, which made the little angel laugh. All Harry could think was this is my pride and joy.

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**Soooo, did you like it? What did you think of little Taylor, or even little Bella and Devon? More is to come next chapter so I hope to get some reviews telling me how I did. Thanks! –SR7**


	13. Quidditch and attacks

**Thanks guys for all your reviews you sent me, they were awesome! Ok for those of you who might be wondering about the baby and H.A. crossover thing I just want to point out that the babies aren't changing the fact that Harry and Draco are still trying to track down the dark wizard, cause they are. The babies are their school project, again most of the professors don't even know about the H.A. so they don't know that they're interfering with anything. It makes the story more realistic. So please read and review! Thanks! –SR7 (WARNING: this chapter gets a little dark, but it's part of the story)**

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Two days had gone by since the fifth years got their assigned partners and their new beautiful babies. So far the students were doing fine on raising a child, the only group who was having problems was Blaise, Pansy, and their little baby boy Cole. Pansy left Blaise to do most of the chores and work and that was leaving a big rift in their relationship. Finally after hours of arguing they finally came to the agreement of one person takes care of Cole for two days while the other does the chores then they switch off. The professors didn't like this conclusion but let them do it for the sake of the assignment and Cole.

Harry and Hermione couldn't be happier. Taylor brought so much happiness to them, that they left all their arguments they just recently had behind them. Since for this project the babies didn't nurse on their mother's Harry and Hermione traded taking care of Taylor every night one having her in their dorm one night then switching to the other person the following night so they could get some sleep. This was the most common agreement throughout the fifth year couples.

"Harry, can you take Taylor while I get dressed?" A bleary eyed Hermione asked who was standing in the Apache common room in her pajamas holding an equally tired Taylor.

Harry smiled, and gratefully took his child. "Of course 'Mione."

Hermione gave him a small smile then hurried up the stairs towards her dorm room. Harry took a rag off the table and slung it over his shoulder; he then carefully lifted Taylor up so he could try to burp her.

While he was walking around patting her back, Draco came bounding down the stairs with Bella in his arms. "Hey Harry! Guess what, Ellie kissed my cheek! She was handing over Bella to me and she told me what a great father I've been so far then she pecked my cheek. It was like a moment in heaven." Draco told Harry with an eager expression on his face most commonly seen on an excited seven year old.

"That's great Draco." Harry congratulated not stopping his continuous pats on Taylor's back.

Draco's smile faltered. "Oh, your just disappointed because Hermione hasn't done something like that to you yet, or vice versa."

Harry stopped all movement then turned to the blonde. "No I'm not! Hermione and me are perfectly happy right now and I rather not ruin it by doing something foolish just out of the blew like that."

Draco had a smug look on his face. "Whatever you say Potter, whatever you say." Harry glared at him, but Draco ignored it by bouncing Bella on his lap and letting her play with his robes.

At that moment Fred and George came hurtling through the portrait hole with their babies. Fred had a baby girl named, Jazzy. And George had a baby boy named, Marcus. Fred's wife is Alicia Spinett, and George's wife is Angelina Johnson. "Harry, Draco! Come quick Ron was attacked in the hall, and he was holding Devon. They're both in the hospital wing, come quick!" Harry and Draco quickly glanced at each other and followed Fred and George out into the hall.

When they arrived at the hospital wing Harry saw Ron laying in a bed covered in blood and bandages with a mourning Lavender crying on him. Devon was nowhere to be seen. Harry and Draco both hugged their baby girls tighter and walked over to Ron's bed.

Lavender looked up at the two men. "Harry-."

Harry cut her off. "Who did this?"

Lavender looked like she was about to burst into tears. "I don't know, I handed Devon over to Ron this morning for his shift and I was walking back to the Serra house when I heard a terrifying blood curling scream. I quickly ran back to where Ron was to find him sprawled on the ground covered in cuts and bleeding all over and knocked out, and Devon was-." Lavender couldn't continue she just started crying her eyes out.

Harry and Draco handed Taylor and Bella over to Fred and George to hold then bent down to comfort Lavender. "Lav, what happened? Where's Devon?" Harry asked in a demanding tone.

Lavender sniffed back a couple times unable to look at Harry. Finally she decided she better tell her two leaders. "I-I-I, I found Devon on the ground not breathing, and with a bad cut on his little fragile arm." Lavender confessed falling into Harry's arms seeking comfort. "He's with Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hope right now. Their trying to keep him alive, they won't let me see him yet, and I'm freaking out right now."

Harry stroked the girl's wavy brunette hair. "Lavender, listen to me. It's going to be all right. Devon is going to be fine and so is Ron. Do you hear me?" Harry demanded feeling himself tear up as well.

He could feel Lavender nod her head against his chest. "I hear you Harry."

Draco let out a breath. "So, how's Ron doing? Are his injuries severe?" he asked. Lavender got up and sat on Ron's bed.

"Ron will be fine, Madam Pomfrey gave him a potion to heal his cuts and told me to dab a cold wash cloth on his forehead every ten minutes or so. He's resting right now. I can't imagine the guilt he must be feeling at the moment. I want him to know it wasn't his fault, but there's no way I can tell him until he wakes up." Lavender softly told the boys stroking Ron's flashy red hair.

Before anyone could say anything else Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hope walked in from the other room. "Lavender dear." Madam Pomfrey addressed. Lavender sat up immediately at the sound of the older woman.

"Yes ma'am? How's my baby?" she asked desperately.

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "We have good news and bad news. The good news is Devon is going to live. The bad news is we're going to have to keep him here for a couple days because we think he might have had something poisonous shot through his arm, so we need to examine it. If you like you may say hi to Devon before we start his operation." Lavender nodded and followed the two nurses into the next room.

The four boys left in the room all surrounded Ron's bed staring at his ever so slowly healing body. "Who do you think attacked him?" Draco wondered to the group.

Fred and George stood there with a blank face on and Harry stared at Ron with thought. "I don't know, but something tells me they may not be after only Ron. He may have been just the first victim." Draco and the twins nodded. "Alright, we're going to have to have another H.A. meeting. And new rule, nobody wanders around this school without someone with them. Especially for the girls do you hear me?" Harry asked in a dark tone.

Again the twins and Draco nodded. "Don't worry Harry, we understand how dangerous this is getting, but I fear this is only the beginning." Draco told the group.

Harry and the twins agreed then silently stared at Ron again. After a few minutes the doors to the hospital wing swung open. Ginny, Hermione, Ellie, and Cody all swept into the room. A look of horror crossed Ginny's face as she saw her brother lying in his bed. "Oh my Gosh, what happened!" the fiery red head demanded losing her temper and running to Ron's side.

The four boys all exchanged glances then looked at Ginny who had an expectant look on her face. Harry sighed and told the group what happened and how Lavender was completely devastated about the whole thing and was currently visiting Devon. The new group silently listened with sad looks on their faces, which quickly became angry.

Hermione spoke up. "I can't believe someone would attack Ron, I mean I know he's had his faults, but he hasn't done anything to anybody. Who would attack a student, especially one handling a baby?"

Harry looked at her sadly. "Hermione, dark wizards don't care that someone might be holding a baby, they don't care if the baby gets killed as long as they fulfill their task. Right now we're dealing with someone dark, and all we know is that it's not Voldemort. So from here on out nobody is going to wander the halls without someone with them and we're going to have to keep extra protection on our babies."

Hermione nodded and hugged Harry who hugged her back neither letting go, so Hermione rested her head on his chest while Harry comforted her. Ginny scowled at them, but right now she wasn't in the mood to get jealous over them.

Draco took hold of Bella and sat down on a vacant bed while Ellie sat besides him resting her head on his shoulder both blondes tending to Bella. Cody stared at the couple and walked over to them to talk to them, wanting to apologize to Draco and to meet his niece properly.

Lavender came out of the other room head down and gripping her hand tightly. She walked up to Harry and Hermione and hugged both of them. "Thanks for coming you guys. Devon looked so helpless in there, but I cherished every minute being there with him." She was on the verge of tears again, but held them back.

"Lavender." Harry said staring at her. "You make a great mother."

These five words touched Lavender, and now she really did cry, but she did it happily. "Thank you Harry, that means the world to me." She let a tear fall from her eyes and then went over to be with Ron.

The group stayed with Ron all the way until he woke up an hour later. When he did he went a little cross-eyed, but shook it off. "Wh-what happened?"

The group exchanged looks then Hermione spoke. "Ron, do you remember anything that happened?" Ron stared at her then at Lavender.

"Uh- yeah I think, Lavender handed me Devon, and I-… Bloody hell! Where's Devon?" Ron exclaimed frantically looking around the room.

Lavender put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "It's okay Ron. Devon is with Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hope right now. He's going to have an operation, but he's going to be okay." She reassured motioning with her hand to breath with Ron following it reluctantly.

"Ron, can you tell us what happened after Lavender left?" Harry asked picking up Taylor from a bed and holding her close.

Ron nodded. "Yeah sorry. Um, Lavender handed Devon over to me for my shift. Then I was about to go back to the Cortez common room when a figure in a black cloak whose hood was covering its head stalked over to me. I was about to turn around and run, but the figure whipped out its wand and said a whole lot of curses that I've never even heard before, I fell in agony then the creepy figure walked up to me and kicked my head and the last thing I remember is Devon being taken from my arms, and a bright flash of light that left him screaming."

The whole group listened to Ron's story in great interest. "Ron, apparently when Lavender heard Devon scream she was not far away and she quickly ran back to you. What she saw was you unconscious on the ground and Devon almost dead beside you, but no mysterious person anywhere. How can someone escape that easily?" Draco wondered letting Bella play with his tie.

Ron shook his head. "I don't know."

Harry let out an uneasy sigh. "Guy's lets leave Lavender and Ron alone for a while to rest. We can finish this conversation later." The group agreed and left Ron and Lavender alone to talk.

"Harry, we'll escort Ginny back to the Cortez room. If you will, will you take Jazzy and Marcus back to the Apache common room?" George asked sincerely.

Harry and Hermione nodded and took the babies. "Good luck guys."

Fred and George nodded then hurried Ginny down the hall. Harry held Taylor and Jazzy while Hermione took Marcus. "Harry, what are we going to do about this?" Hermione wondered clearly scared.

Harry continued his fast pace down the hall. "I don't know yet. Lets just try to keep our friends and classmates alive first." Hermione nodded and brought Marcus's head closer to her chest protectively.

For the next three hours Harry, Hermione, Draco, and Ellie played with Taylor and Bella, and went over their homework making sure they had everything done. After that Taylor and Bella fell asleep and Hermione and Ellie took them up to their dormitory to put them in their crib, and Harry and Draco had till the girls came back down, time to talk.

"Harry, I'm thinking about trying out as a sub keeper tomorrow." Draco mentioned while lying on his stomach by the fire.

Harry looked down at him. "That's great Draco, why the long face?" he asked seeing Draco's eyes.

Draco sighed. "It's just that I've always played seeker when I've played Quidditch. I've never played keeper, so I'm nervous on how I'm going to do. And I know I can't try out for seeker 'cause you're going to get the position hands down."

Harry twitched his mouth. "How do you know I'm going to make it as seeker?" he challenged.

Draco lifted his head up displaying the most shocked face Harry ever saw on Draco's face. "How do I not know your going to make it as seeker, is the question. Mate, you're the youngest seeker in a century. McGonagall put you on the Gryffindor house team when we were in first year. You have won every game you've played, minus the game the dementers came and interfered on. Mate, you're the best, probably better than Viktor Krum."

Harry had to admit, it would be pretty out of the ordinary if he didn't make the team as seeker but he didn't tell Draco that. Instead he just simply nodded and stared into the fire until the girls came back.

"Hey guys what with the glum faces?" Ellie joked earning a smile from Draco, as she and Hermione descended down the stairs.

"Nothing sweetie." Draco cooed.

Ellie rolled her eyes, but let it go. Hermione walked past Ellie and took Harry by the arm and dragged him over to a table on the far side of the room. "Whoa Hermione, what's up?" Harry wondered as she forced him to sit down.

Hermione sat across from him and stared for a minute. "Listen Harry, remember the Latin book I found?" Harry nodded his head. "Okay, well I think I may have found something in it." Hermione took out the book and opened it to a page that had a picture of the world covered in darkness on it. "See this writing?" Hermione pointed to a certain paragraph towards the middle of the page.

"Yeah, what does it say?"

"I only just found out what it means but here it goes." Hermione cleared her throat and started reading. "_Nocte, quam ut quarta parte regni potentia MCMXCVI novo sciat de omni potentia. Ut omnes unum scopum CONTERITO innoxiae civitatis, ut supra homines. Sed hoc stare potest..._"

Harry dawned a confused expression on his face. "Do you know what that means, at all?"

Hermione's face turned serious. "Yes. It means… On the night of May fourth of 1996 a new power will rein other than a power everyone knows about. They will terrorize innocent people all for one goal, to take over mankind. Only one man can stop this power..." Hermione looked up at Harry.

"So this is like a prophecy."

"It's exactly like that Harry. We have to take down this person before May fourth it's just something that has to be done. No questions about it."

Harry grabbed the book Hermione just read from. " 'Mione how old is this book?"

Hermione bit her lower lip like she always did when she was thinking. "I don't know maybe about 500 years old at the oldest, why?"

Harry looked back down at the book. "I don't know just wondering."

Hermione stared at him not totally convinced but decided she better not ask him about it. "Okay well do you want to go down and grab a late lunch?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah, of course." Hermione then stuffed the book in her bag and then Harry and her both headed down to the dinner hall.

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That night it was Harry's turn to have Taylor sleep in his dormitory so he was tucking her into her crib while his dorm mates (minus Draco who was still in the common room) were asleep. It was dead silent in the room (luckily none of his dorm mates or any of the babies snored) but right then Harry heard a voice. "_Hungry! Thirsty! Kill!_" Harry shook his head around the room trying to locate the voice. None of the guys were sleep talking so it wasn't them and Harry cast a spell to locate any invisible people in the room, and no one was there. Harry strained his ears trying to hear the voice again. A very faint sound of "_ahh_" filled his ears.

"Hey Harry!" A voice exclaimed behind him.

Harry let out a tiny yelp and spun around to find Draco holding Bella. "Mate! Did you hear someone say hungry, thirsty, kill at all?"

Draco cocked his eyebrow. "Um, no. Are you ok? Are you hearing voices again?"

Harry's face lit up. "Hearing voices that's it! The last time I heard voices that nobody else could hear was in second year when the Basilisk was roaming the school and hiding in the chamber of secrets. I just heard a loud voice but nobody else woke up to and you didn't hear it, and we both know how light of sleepers David and Darrick are."

Draco walked over to Bella's crib and set her in it. "So do you think a basilisk is roaming this school?" not looking at Harry he quietly started changing Bella's diaper.

"I don't know mate. It would seem really weird, and for some reason I don't think it's one, but we can never be to sure. Like what if it's another Parsel tongue roaming the school."

Draco shook his head. "No way, you and Voldemort are the only parsel tongues."

Harry was getting annoyed. "Yeah, that we know of. How do know there isn't another parsel tongue out there who has yet to tell anybody their secret?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever you say. I believe you that your hearing voices but let's worry about it tomorrow. Please." Draco pleaded stripping down his robes and putting pajamas on.

Harry huffed. "Fine, but to be safe I think we should have Taylor and Bella sleep with us tonight. That voice is really creeping me out."

Draco had to agree with Harry on this one. "Smart Potter, well goodnight."

"Night Malfoy."

The next morning Harry and Draco woke up to luckily finding Taylor and Bella safe and the rest of their mates fine, but Darrick wasn't in the room. Harry looked over to Cody who had just woke up. "Cody, where's Darrick?"

"Every Monday morning, if he can, he runs on the beach to think without the pressures of school all around him."

Harry's mouth dropped open and turned to Draco whose mouth was doing the same thing. Harry turned back to a confused Cody. "Cody, last night I heard a voice of someone wanting to kill and I think that happened. Did anyone go with Darrick?"

Cody's eyes went wide. "No. Oh crap!"

David and Seth both heard this conversation to and both were hurrying to get their robes on, as were Harry, Cody, and Draco. The boys all hurled down the stairs, but hurried back up five seconds later when they remembered their babies were still in the room. When they came back down Harry spotted Hermione, Ellie, and Cho laughing at something Cho was reading out loud to them so the boys all scuttled over to them and asked them to watch the babies for a little bit. When Hermione tried to ask why all Harry would say was that it was an emergency and they needed to keep the babies safely in the common room. So when they left the three girls were stuck with six babies one already being Cho's.

"Alright guys keep your wands out, and stay on alert." Harry warned as they ran down the corridors. They stopped at the hospital wing. "Seth and David stay here at this wing with Ron and Lavender, and contact us if another body is brought here by using Dobby. Dobby!" Harry shouted.

The small colorful house elf appeared next to them with a pop. "Master Harry Potter requested to see Dobby?"

"Yes, Dobby stay with Seth and David and if a body is brought to the hospital wing come and tell me on their orders alright?"

"Dobby understands, and will obey master's orders. Come Masters Seth and David." Dobby said taking the two boys hands and leading them into the hospital wing.

"Good, now that that's covered, lets cover the beach."

"But Harry, classes are going to start in a half in hour. We at least got to bring a professor with us." Cody pleaded worry written all over his face.

"Your right, ok who should be get to come help us?"

Draco's head bobbed up. "Snape and Goldby."

With that the group raced to the Dinner hall to find the two professors finishing up their breakfast. The trio begged the duo to come help them find Darrick. Both Professor's thankfully agreed and told Headmaster Heffner where they were going. Heffner let them leave for the sake of his student. So all five of them left the dinner hall in search of Darrick.

Cody led them down to the beach and where Darrick usually runs each person with their wand out and ready. They called Darrick's name several times before deciding to use their eyes instead of their voice. It took forever but the group came upon a rocky mountain. Lying on his back lay Darrick gasping for breath. "DARRICK!" Cody yelled running up to his friend.

Cody knelt down besides him and ripped the front of his shirt open. "He's not bleeding, but I think he was hit by a spell." Cody said frantically.

Snape also knelt down besides Darrick and said a spell and put it over Darrick. "That should keep the boy breathing until we get back up to the castle. Potter, help me with a levitation charm." Snape snapped getting up.

Harry quickly followed Snape's orders and set his part of the levitation charm on Darrick, and then the group made their way to the castle, Cody and Draco speaking words of encouragement to Darrick on the way. Snape and Harry sped up to the castle to get Darrick there since his breathing was getting worse. They burst into the hospital wing and flopped Darrick on a bed while Madam Pomfrey, and Hope examined him.

Seth and David ran up to them. "What the heck happened?" Seth asked the panting group.

Cody let out a cough and spoke. "We found him on Devil's Peak. Somebody hit him in the chest with the spell, but we don't know who or when did it."

Seth groaned then turned to Harry. "Potter, no other bodies were brought to the wing while you were gone. Ron and Lavender are safe, and we sent Dobby back to the kitchens."

"Good, thanks guys. Your work is done for now. You can head to class, oh and take Lavender with you."

Seth and David nodded and grabbed Lavender's arm who was refusing to leave Ron's side. Cody walked back to Darrick. "Hey buddy, we'll be back, we just have to go to class, we'll see ya soon." Then Cody patted his shoulder then left with Harry and Draco to head to Potions.

"…So that's why it's a good idea to know how to brew a poison stopper potion." Dunn instructed his class, then the trio walked into the room everybody turned in their seats to see who it was. "Ah, Mr. Beck, Potter, and Malfoy it's a pleasure to have you join us. Now get in your seats." Dunn snapped annoyed at getting interrupted.

Harry rolled his eyes then sat by Hermione. "Psst, Harry where were you?" Hermione asked through the corner of her mouth.

Harry leaned a little closer to her. "Darrick was attacked, we had to help him."

Hermione's eyes went wide and let out a gasp.

"Miss Granger, do you mind? I'm in the middle of teaching my lesson." Dunn complained.

Hermione mouthed 'sorry' to him, so he went on with his lecture. Harry gave her a sorry look then both of them went back to taking notes.

After class Hermione demanded to know what happened to Darrick. Harry and Draco glanced uneasy glances at each other then Draco spoke. "Darrick was going on a run this morning and apparently we was shot with a spell on Devil's Peak, _but that's all we know._" Draco explained rushing the last part together.

Hermione rolled her eyes then turned to Harry. "Harry, what's the truth?" She stared at him with the same eyes she stared at him with back at the Burrow, so Harry took a deep breath and told her.

"Last night, I was hearing a loud voice, but no one else heard it. It kept saying _Hungry, Thirsty, Kill_! And then it went _ahh,_ like it was satisfied. I asked Draco if he heard anything when he was coming up the stairs but he didn't hear anything. So we're thinking another Parsel tongue is in this school attacking the students, and only I can hear them since I am a Parsel tongue. Anyway this morning when we woke up Darrick wasn't in his bed so I asked Cody where he was, and Cody said that Darrick always goes on a Monday morning run, but Darrick doesn't ever bring anybody with him so right then I knew something wasn't right. And then Draco told you the rest, we found him on Devil's Peak, hit with a spell, not bleeding, and is currently residing in the hospital wing." The trio reached the crossway to Transfiguration and Care for Magical Creatures.

"Wow Harry, that's a lot to take in." Hermione said uneasily.

Harry nodded. "I know, anyway Draco good luck getting to your class."

Draco smiled. "You to Potter, Granger." The trio then split up.

Luckily the halls were packed with students so no one in their right mind would think to attack anyone, but it was still good to keep a close eye out. Harry and Hermione sat by each other in Transfiguration and waited patiently for Phoebe to arrive, McGonagall looking anxious. Phoebe finally burst open the doors slightly panting and her usually well placed hair looking windblown. "Good morning class." She breathed out walking up the center isle. She brushed her arm against Harry, and he could smell fish. Not the most pleasant smell.

Phoebe let out a smile to the class to reassure them she was okay. "I'm sorry I'm late class, but I was visiting two students in the hospital wing who were attacked 24 hours within each other." She sighed, and then looked up at the sobbing Lavender in the back of the room. "Well anyway. Both boys are going to be all right, so there's really nothing to worry about. On happier news we are going to be changing daisy's to pacifiers today, a special gift to your babies." She winked at the class then handed McGonagall the daisy's to pass out to everyone.

By the end of class everyone successfully had a pacifier Harry and Hermione both making a green and purple one for Taylor. "By the way Hermione, where is Taylor?" Harry wanted to know just then realizing no one had their babies with them.

"Oh you missed it." Hermione said. "At breakfast this morning Heffner told us we were to place our babies in our "house" with a nanny, while we're at classes, then after the last class, we have to pick them up."

Harry thought about this. "Hmm, well that makes sense. Well we can give these to Taylor later then." Harry said referring to the binkies.

"Right." Hermione agreed pulling Harry out of the classroom.

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"Ugh, I'm so hungry!" Draco and Seamus complained, dragging themselves to the dinner hall.

"Okay I get why Draco is hungry not eating breakfast and all, but Seamus why are you hungry?" Hermione wondered walking behind the two boys with Harry.

Seamus turned back to her. "The Irish needs to eat their grub. No questions asked." He snapped sticking his nose in the air and stalking off a head of them with an equally hungry Draco.

Hermione rolled her eyes and followed Harry to their usual seats. Ginny and Luna already sitting at the Apache table with the Apache H.A. members. Ginny's head shot up from her food when she heard Harry approach. "Harry here I saved you a seat!" she exclaimed scooting her butt over to make room.

Harry looked at his friends for support and luckily he got it from Draco. "Ginny, I think Harry should sit by his wife, don't you think. Well of course you wouldn't know since your still in fourth year and not married. Harry and Hermione should talk about Taylor, with Ellie and me. Now run along child." Draco said smiling sarcastically.

Ginny shot him a dirty look. "Harry doesn't have to sit with her. And so what if he's "married" to her it's nothing more than a project, and I have every right to sit next to Harry as she does."

Draco stared at her blankly. "Harry doesn't like you." He said flatly earning sniggers from the boys.

Ginny had a hurt expression on her face. "You know what Draco, you can stuff your tongue where butt is because I-."

"Ginny language!" Luna whispered loud enough to get the message across.

Ginny took a deep breath then stood up to Harry and Draco of course only reaching their noses. "I'm sorry Harry and Draco, you two can just irk me sometimes." Ginny apologized not to sweetly.

Draco smiled. "I'm not convinced."

Ginny glared at him. "I have nothing to say to you Malfoy." Then she turned to Harry. "Come on Harry I just want you to sit by me, I'm not going to bite. We used to be really good friends who talked about Quidditch all the time. Where's that nice Harry who doesn't spend his every waking second with Hermione?" Harry stared at the girl and didn't answer afraid of hurting her feelings, but of course girls feelings were more delicate than Harry would of like because Ginny ran from the great hall crying.

Harry groaned and was about to go after her when Hermione stopped him. "Harry I don't think there's much more you can do in this situation, let me talk to her, girl to girl. No offense but you might just make it worse." Harry had to agree with her, so he let Hermione past him so she could calm down the red head.

Harry sat across from Draco and stared him down. Draco was starting to get uncomfortable. "What?"

"You didn't have to be so harsh on Ginny you know. I realize you were trying to help, but you probably just ruined her life." Harry reasoned.

Draco let out an irritated sigh. "Fine, I'll talk to her later."

Harry smiled. "Thanks Draco, your enthusiasm is just radiating off of me." Harry praised sarcastically. Draco glared at him then threw some of his chicken at his face. Harry and Draco smiled and let the previous conversation behind them so they could finish their lunch.

Harry didn't see Hermione for the rest of classes and was starting to worry. After Divination at the end of the day Harry headed down to the fifth year home ec room to see if Hermione was with Taylor, and if not, then to pick up his little baby. Hermione wasn't in the room or house when he got down there, so he picked up Taylor from her crib, burped her, then exited his house to find Draco and Ellie waiting for him with Bella.

"Not in there?" Draco asked knowing the answer already.

Harry sighed. "Nope. Just Taylor."

"Well we can still look in the library, hospital wing, and common room." Draco suggested.

Harry nodded. "Yeah lets do that."

Harry, Draco, Ellie, and Bella all looked in the library to not find any bookworm anywhere. Then they checked in the hospital wing where Ron said Hermione and Ginny just left, and said something about Quidditch. Harry thanked Ron, then said goodbye to Darrick. The group quickly made their way to the common room to find Hermione sitting on the couch with a certain Cortez student.

The two girls smiled at him and stood up, then Hermione cleared her throat and spoke. "Harry James Potter if you would, will you please except these robes?" Hermione and Ginny held up Harry's Gryffindor Quidditch seeker robes. Then Ginny cleared her throat and spoke.

"And will you Harry James Potter except your newly polished Firebolt?" Ginny held up Harry's Firebolt that now looked brand new and very shiny.

Harry smiled and hugged both girls careful not to crush Taylor in the process. "Thanks girls, that's really nice of you two."

Hermione laughed. "Yeah, it was Ginny's idea to have you enter your Quidditch tryout like all Potter's have done, traditionally."

Harry smiled at Ginny. "Thanks Ginny, so are you still mad at me?"

Ginny paused for a moment then spoke. "No Harry I'm not. Hermione helped me realize some very important things, so to let you know, I'll try not to bug you anymore."

"That's okay Ginny." Harry reassured her.

"Okay Harry, put on your robes so we can get you to your tryout!" Hermione happily exclaimed taking Taylor from his arms and replacing her for Quidditch gear. Harry quickly ran up to the dormitories and threw on his robes checking himself over several times sighing happily at wearing his robes again, finally. Draco opened the door.

"Hey mate, looking good!" he complemented. "You gave me the inspiration to wear my old robes, they might be Slytherin, but they'll work for now."

Harry chuckled and walked up to his mate. "Good luck on trying out for keeper."

Draco smiled and shook Harry's hand. "And you with seeker."

Then the boys finished putting on their attire and headed down to the common room to show off their robes. Cody was waiting with the girls and saw the duo come down the stairs. "Wow dudes, Hogwarts knows how to make some pretty hot robes, trust me I just saw Cho walking down the hall with yellow ones on, woo that was hot."

Harry and the others rolled their eyes. "Well Duraflame has some pretty spiffy robes to I guess." Draco said pointing to Cody's bright red robes with a big number 15 patched on the front and _Beck_ patched on the back.

"Yeah, so Harry your number 7. That's a special number, a lot of the really good athletes have that number, I'm just saying from my perspective." Cody added after seeing Draco's face.

"Thanks mate, well I think we need to head to the pitch now, Cody lead the way." Harry said pushing his mates out the portrait hole.

Cody led them up a big hill and over a bridge to finally get to the entrance of the pitch. Harry, Draco, Cody, and Ginny said bye to Hermione, Ellie, Taylor, and Bella then parted ways to the locker rooms and the stands.

Ginny then parted ways with the boys to get to the Cortez locker room. Cody led them to the door and the very end of the hall they entered to a full house. Many Hogwarts students showed up as well as Duraflame students. Harry walked up to Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, and the Weasley twins. "Hey guys!" Harry greeted ducking out of the way from a sock someone threw.

"Hey Harry." They greeted.

Harry looked around. "Are we the only people from the Gryffindor team whose trying out?"

Katie nodded. "Yeah sadly, but there's not a lot we can do about it. Anyway Harry, good luck out there, you'll be competing for the seeker position with Cho, and Gavin."

"Gavin? He's here?" Harry asked astonished and not in a good way.

Angelina nodded sourfully. "Yup, and he keeps bragging that he's the best, so do me a favor Harry, and kick his butt all the way back to Scotland." She said darkly.

Harry agreed and then the Apache's were called for their turn on the field. "Okay, good luck guys!" the twins said. Harry, Katie, and Angelina said good luck back then they parted ways for their different sections.

Harry made his way over to the seeker tryouts where a couple Duraflame's were plus Cho and Gavin. Madam Hooch and Coach Cliff were there to judge and lead the drills. Madam Hooch flashed a smile at Harry then went back to her clipboard. "Alright children, mount your brooms and kick off till your 100 feet in the air." She instructed mounting her own broom along with Coach Cliff.

The group all did as they were told. Harry got up to the 100 feet mark first, thanks to his Firebolt. Harry spotted Hermione in the stands and gave her a wide smile. Hermione smiled back then took Taylor's little hand and waved it to him. Harry waved back then returned his attention back to the drill.

Gavin came up besides Harry. "Nice Potter, for getting up here before anyone else, just shows how arrogant you really are." Gavin said frowning.

Harry glared at him. "Shut up Gregor, and let me do my own thing while you do your own thing." Gavin glared back but didn't say anything more.

Coach Cliff wrote something on his clipboard then looked at Harry. "Good job Potter, wish I had that broom as well, but I don't so you better show me that you can fly it as well as I hear you can."

Harry thanked the coach then listened to Madam Hooch. "Okay students I will let a snitch go and whoever catches it first will get 150 points added to their total score." Harry narrowed his eyes and waited for Hooch to give the signal for them to go. Gavin looked determined and Cho looked nervous. The other Duraflame's looked indifferent.

"Go!" Hooch shouted and the snitch disappeared. Harry circled around the pitch careful not to hit any of the other stations while they did their thing. Five minutes went by, nobody had spotted the snitch yet, ten minutes. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw a seventh year Duraflame boy by the name of Matt go for a small gold ball flying away from him. Harry spun his broom around and maneuvered through the students catching up to Matt and the snitch. Closer and closer Harry was inches from catching the snitch; his fingers laced around it gripping it tightly, then out of nowhere a shrieking pain hit his side.

"Gregor! You are disqualified from this activity for hitting a player with a spell!" Hooch shrieked.

Harry felt his eyes drooping and then he was falling, the last thing he could remember was hitting the ground and blacking out.

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**Wow that was like the longest chapter I've written. Phew, I'm tired, this took a while to write, but it turned out fine all the same. Soooo how was it? Do you like where this story is headed? I know this chapter was a lot darker than my normal chapters, but if I kept writing normal chapters this story would get boring really fast. So Anywho please review! Thanks! –SR7**


	14. Voices and answers

**Back again. Sorry again about the delay… I had another case of the dang writers block (and sickness). Ugh… its really getting annoying, but I guess this is to be expected for a writer who is basically winging each chapter on the spot. Hmmm, well anyway I finally got this chapter up and thank you to all who reviewed last chapter you guys are great. So here is chapter 14. Please read and review, thanks! –SR7**

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"Harry, _Harry_… Harry are you awake?"

"Well of course he isn't you dumbnut can't you see that his eyes are still closed, and his body still looks lifeless?"

"You know what Cody, Harry is my friend and I've known him longer than you have. Sure we weren't friends for most of the time, but I still know a lot about him, like when he's coming back into consciousness he'll scrunch his eyes together. I bet you didn't know that now did you?"

"Draco, Cody would you two stop arguing? Harry is lying here helpless and you two are standing there arguing over him, and not in a very good way."

"Sorry Hermione."

"That's right. Now don't you two have babies to look after?"

"Bella and Trent are fine right now they're with Ellie and Grace, we want to be here for Harry when he wakes up."

"Fine then."

Harry lay in his hospital bed listening to his friends arguing about him, and to him it was giving him a headache. Harry wanted to just shout 'shut up' to them, but he couldn't find the strength to do so. Actually he couldn't even find the strength to open his eyes he could feel bandages wrapped around his torso and finding that he only had feeling in his right arm, but not the left. He felt sore all over his body and he could feel eye crust forming on his eyelids. Finally Harry squinted his eyes open, he saw Hermione sitting on his bed with Taylor in her arms, Draco and Cody standing next to her looking down at him, and Madam Pomfrey standing at the foot of his bed holding a clipboard.

"Ahh Mr. Potter your awake. Good, well I'll have you know that you'll be out of this place by tomorrow and your injuries are healing up now. You've been in the hospital wing for three days, so as you can tell everyone is happy to see you alive." Madam Pomfrey announced tweaking her head towards the happy faces of Hermione, Draco, and Cody.

"Thank you Poppy." Harry mumbled trying to push himself into a sitting position.

"It was not a problem Mr. Potter, but I think your friends have stuff to tell ya." Madam Pomfrey winked at the friends then left through the door towards her office.

Harry turned back to his friends. "What happened?"

The suspicious trio exchanged looks then Draco sighed. "Okay, I saw the whole thing from the keeper practice. You and Matt were neck and neck for the snitch, but then you caught it of course, and Gavin took out his wand and blasted this spell at you that made you look like you were just stabbed with a knife. You clutched your side then you fell 200 feet to the ground. Harry, you broke your arm, and fractured a couple bones, but Madam Pomfrey healed that up. The real problem is nobody knows what curse Gavin hit you with. He won't talk so the American Minister is coming today to drop off some Veritaserum to… help Gavin tell the truth." Draco explained in thought.

Harry sighed. "So what else is new?"

Draco forced a smile. "Well according to Coach Cliff you made the team as seeker because of your "amazing display of effort and naturalness" as he said. I made it as the sub keeper, and Cody is still main keeper. Gavin is banned from all extra activities and the next five boardwalk weekends. Oh and most importantly I think a certain little daughter missed her daddy." Hermione smiled up at Draco then back at Harry handing him Taylor to hold.

Harry smiled down at his daughter, and mumbled. "God bless this little one."

"Harry, I hate to put pressure on you but you have about 3 feet of transfiguration homework. Oddly that's the only class where the teacher is making you do homework. Snape isn't even making you do anything which is strange but personally I wouldn't question it." Cody told Harry sitting down on the bed next to him and rubbing his hands together slightly.

Harry closed his eyes then opened them. "Why is Phoebe the only one giving me homework?"

Hermione spoke up. "I don't know Harry, but also oddly enough she is the only teacher who hasn't visited you in here yet either. Also yesterday she was really tense about something, but I don't know what yet."

"Cody and I think its stress, but Hermione doesn't think so. She thinks something lets just say "wrong" is causing our young professor to act this way." Draco mentioned avoiding Hermione's glare.

"Well its true." Hermione argued.

Cody chuckled. "Yeah Harry, Hermione here has been acting all rude to Phoebe these last few days because of her unfairness towards you. Yesterday Phoebe almost sent her to Heffner for speaking out of turn in her classroom. The whole thing was purely insane."

Harry looked back to Hermione and smiled. "Hermione, why would you blow up at a professor like that just for being 'unfair' to me?"

Hermione blushed. "Um- well, I- uh." Hermione stuttered. "I didn't like Phoebe's attitude and truthfully she has been getting on my nerves for a while now. For one Phoebe barely knows what she's doing in Transfiguration and McGonagall always has to clean up her mess, you know me Harry I can't stand unprofessional professors. And two she's just been acting nasty to the students. Two days ago she blew up at Colin Creevey when he accidentally dropped one of his books in the corridor and she barely tripped on it. I say she has something going on right now that she isn't telling anyone. But I don't know what it is yet." Hermione finished biting her lip and staring at Harry intently.

Harry stared back at her then he heard a cough from the bed to his left. Harry forced his head to turn to where he saw Ron laying smiling at him. "Hey Harry. I heard about the Quidditch tryouts, but I'm glad you made the team anyway despite what happened with you and Gavin."

Harry smiled at the red head. "Thanks Ron that means a lot. Just out of curiosity how long have you been here?"

Ron chuckled then turned his head forward and stared into space. "A week… Poppy won't let me out of here yet, says it's still too dangerous for me. But let me tell you I miss being able to walk around the school and I definitely miss eating normal food." The group laughed but Ron continued talking. "Lavender has visited me every day since I first came here, and Devon finally came out of his operation yesterday, so we are very happy about that. He's with Lavender right now, but I'm so happy that he's okay especially after the attack."

Harry nodded. "I'm glad he's okay he suffered something big considering his age, but that proves how strong your son is and you should be proud of him."

"Harry, that is the nicest thing somebody has ever said to me, yet." Ron exclaimed tearing up.

"Awe Ron don't cry you'll make a bad reputation for yourself." Draco joked earning a smile from Ron.

"Thanks for reminding me mate!"

"Anytime."

"Well boys we need to head to our afternoon classes. Lets leave Harry and Ron to rest for a bit." Hermione announced taking Taylor from Harry's arms.

Cody groaned. "Fine, but I warn you. I just might try to escape from History of Magic."

Hermione rolled her eyes then pushed the two blondes out the door.

Harry watched the group leave when he heard Ron speak behind him. "You know Harry. Seeing you and Hermione together makes me see how much you two are perfect for each other, and as being one of Hermione's best friends I will give you my blessing." Ron dubbed bowing his head. Harry couldn't hold it any longer he started cracking up, and soon Ron started to crack up to. Nothing could break up this friendship. Or could it?

Later that day Coach Cliff came by to properly announce to Harry that he made the team, and that he hoped that he would get better soon. Then around eight o' clock the American Minister, Wolf came walking into the hospital wing with Heffner and Dumbledore on either side of him, then a scared looking Gavin behind him. Wolf was a fat man with rectangular glasses and a suit and tie on. He also had black short hair that was spiky.

The Minister came up to Harry's bed. "Mr. Potter, I must say it is a pleasure to meet you. I am the American Minister, Minister Wolf. It has come to my understanding that this young man." Wolf pointed to a trembling Gavin. "Used a illegal spell to damage your torso and knock you off your broom. Am I wrong?" Wolf asked expectantly.

"Well sir, with all do respect I can't say whether or not Gavin used a illegal spell. For I didn't hear him at the time." Harry responded respectably.

Wolf smiled at Harry with a big white grin. "Don't worry Mr. Potter, I expected you to say something like that. So I came from the ministry in Washington D.C. to bring a vile of Veritaserum to give the boy to tell us the truth. I assume your familiar with the potion."

Harry looked at the bottle Wolf was pulling out of his robes. The same kind of bottle Dumbledore and Snape gave the fake Moody the year before. "Yes sir, I'm familiar with that potion."

"Good, I wouldn't feel right giving Gregor a potion you weren't familiar with." Harry stared at Wolf then cocked his eyebrow. Wolf saw this then chuckled. "I'm kidding kid. I give all the guilty one's a little bit of Veritaserum whether the accuser likes it or not. Anyway, I thought you might like to hear Gregor's confessions for yourself so we will do the operation right here."

"What!" A squeaky voiced Ron asked from the bed next to Harry.

The Minister glanced up at Ron's bed. "Oh I'm sorry boy, are you not comfortable with this? What is your name?"

Ron gulped. "Weasley, Ron Weasley. And I have heard about the effects of Veritaserum from my father and isn't it painful?"

Wolf hobbled up to Ron's bed then leaned down so his face was close to Ron's. Then he spoke in a very deep but quiet voice. "I will have you know Weasley some versions of this potion is very painful, but if you brew this just right. It can be quite all right, since Gregor is underage and still in school I am required to give him the not so painful one. Do you understand me?"

Ron let out a feeble nod of his head then he turned to Harry with a worried look on his face. Wolf went back up and took Gavin by the arm taking him to the bed at Harry's right. Wolf and Heffner forced him to lie down while Dumbledore held his feet down. Gavin was putting up a fight so Heffner and Wolf had to hold his arms and chest then had Madam Pomfrey pour some of the potion in his mouth. Gavin stopped struggling then he went glassy eyed.

Wolf sat up. "Alright I'll start first. Gregor! What spell did you hit Harry Potter with on Monday, September 11th 1995 at 6:40 P.M.?"

The whole group watched Gavin intently then the boy started making gurgling noises, then he spoke, but in a mono tone. "I hit Harry Potter with the Timber curse."

Wolf furrowed his eyebrows together then pressed on. "And what spell would that be?"

"_Timberoculous_."

"That is a illegal complicated spell. Who taught it to you?"

"My master."

"Who is your master?" Heffner boomed before Wolf got a chance.

Gavin paused for a moment, sweat beading down his head, then he spoke again. "My master is-." Gavin strained his voice trying to fight off the urge to tell the truth, but the Veritaserum was to powerful and forced him to speak. "My master is a person who told me to never tell who they are or else they would kill me. My master's hideout is at the top of Devil's peak. My master has also been going around the school attacking students who are alone. Nobody would suspect my master."

Wolf sighed. "The downside about a not so painful Veritaserum is that there's always a loophole, but Gregor did gab about his master's hiding place so we go poke around there for a while. In the meantime we need to keep a professor with Gregor at all times so he doesn't do anything more foolish."

"Minister, wouldn't it be smart that we have a Auror follow him around as well?" Harry suggested finally putting himself into the conversation.

Wolf's face lit up. "Excellent idea Potter, I will assign one of my best to be here as soon as they can. But I still think he should have an assigned professor what about Professor Harris who I met in the hall. She seems lovely."

Dumbledore gave Wolf a dark glare but Heffner spoke. "That would be perfect. Phoebe has been needing to get her mind off something that happened recently this would be a perfect opportunity for her. I will inform her immediately." Then Heffner bustled out of the room eagerly.

Harry stared after Heffner then turned to Dumbledore. "Sir may I have a word with you? Alone." He added glancing at an oblivious Wolf.

Dumbledore stared nervously at Harry. "Minister Wolf, I need to have a word with my student will you excuse us?"

Wolf finally got the hint. "Oh, right of course certainly, I'll just take Gregor back to the Apache common room then." Wolf grabbed Gavin's arm and yanked him out of the room.

Then Dumbledore turned to Madam Pomfrey. "Poppy will you take Mr. Weasley into the operation room to do a extra exam on him?" Poppy got the hint to and helped Ron up and out of the room. Finally it was just Dumbledore and Harry in the room. "Alright Harry what do you need?" The old man asked not looking Harry in the eye, but out the window.

Harry cleared his throat. "I want to know what's happening. More information for the H.A. that you haven't told us yet that could be crucial right now. I want to know why you've been avoiding me since we arrived at Duraflame. More information on this Dark lord, and what happened to Dobby. I have so many questions that you need to answer." Harry could feel his voice raising but he didn't care.

Dumbledore sighed, and continued staring out the window. "Alright, I guess I've avoided this conversation long enough." Dumbledore finally turned to look at Harry. His eyes were bloodshot and his eyelids baggy, the old professor just looked plain tired, but he spoke anyway despite his condition. "I'll start with Dobby. When I found him crushed under some rubble in the great hall I immediately took him to Madam Pomfrey to heal him. After Dobby was well enough to work I sent him here with Winky to help out. I found it unsafe to keep him at Hogwarts."

Harry nodded. "If Dobby and Winky were the only house elves brought here to work then where's the rest of the Hogwarts elves?"

Dumbledore sighed. "As much as I don't want to do this I'm afraid I had no choice. The rest of the house elves are staying at Hogwarts to clean up the mess, and help rebuild the castle. Some ministry officials also agreed to help with the rebuilding so you can let Miss Granger know that the elves are having help with this project."

Harry chuckled, Hermione had this new thing with S.P.E.W. to help free house elves and so far it wasn't going that great, but Harry admired her for her determination. "Thank you Professor for clearing that up, anyway what about this dark lord?"

"Alright, Harry you should know that I'm working on another project right now that is completely different from the Hogwarts mission. But I did find out something from a anonymous source." Dumbledore turned his head making sure nobody could hear them, and then he turned back to Harry and spoke in a whisper. "As we know, this dark lord is not our infamous Voldemort, but I did find out that we are not the only one's looking for this man or woman. Apparently Voldemort is out to get this person to for ruining his plan. You have to be careful Harry, two wizards are at large here, and even though the Dark lord has seemed to have taken a little vacation from killing you. He still will if he gets the chance, so I say again… be careful."

"I understand professor, now can you tell me Professor Phoebe's background, just out of curiosity." Harry quickly added at the end so he didn't seem too much like a creeper.

Dumbledore cocked his eyebrow. "What would you need to know about her?"

"Nothing its just Hermione doesn't seem to like her to much and I have to agree she is acting a bit strange."

Silence stretched across the room, Dumbledore's silver eyes penetrating into Harry. "Phoebe is from Seattle Washington, it is her first year teaching, she is twenty five years old. She recently got out of a bad break up with her long-term boyfriend of seven years. I agree she is acting strange and I want to look into it more but Mollock has locked up all the student/teacher information in his office and has refused to tell me anything."

"So do you think Phoebe is up to something?" Harry wondered getting excited.

Dumbledore shook his head. "It is to early to make any accusations, but I am keeping my eye on her. I don't feel it wise for her to be Mr. Gregor's warden but unfortunately I cannot go against Heffner and Wolf's wishes."

"Why should they get to decide? Gavin is from London and goes to Hogwarts, you're his headmaster, and Fudge is his minister. Shouldn't you guys decide?" Harry proclaimed raising his voice.

"I agree with you Harry and I do think I should have a say in this, but Gavin did do the crime in California which happens to be in America and in America and California lies Duraflame where the crime was committed. So yes they do have most of the power in this situation. Harry I'm sorry but I have some work to attend to, so is this all?" Dumbledore asked standing up.

As soon as Dumbledore said his last few words Harry's mind wandered to when he heard the voices. "Actually Professor there is something else I would like to speak to you about. Sunday night I was putting my baby down to bed when I heard a voice call out hungry, thirsty, kill! Then it went _ahh,_ I was the only one who heard the voice in my dorm room and when I asked Draco if he heard a voice coming up the stairs he said it was totally silent. So I think there is a parsel tongue somewhere in the school."

Dumbledore's face looked shocked, but he didn't get a chance to answer because Wolf came barreling into the doors. "Sorry to interrupt you two but Auror Blake has arrived."

Harry glared at Wolf for interrupting him, but Dumbledore got up. "Alright Minister if I may can I have a word with him?"

"Uh, Certainly. Of course!" Wolf shouted trying to hide is oblivious voice. Dumbledore gave a curt nod to Harry then followed the minister out the door.

Harry growled, how dare he take Dumbledore away from him at the moment he'd been waiting for. Harry sat sulking in his bed, Ron completely ignored Harry's attitude and went to bed, falling asleep instantly. A couple minutes later Hermione walked into the room with Taylor in her arms. Harry sat up immediately. "Hermione! What are you doing here?"

She didn't answer right away, Hermione just stood next to Harry's bed staring down at him. Harry quickly moved over as much as he could so Hermione could fit in the bed. Hermione gratefully lay down next to Harry with Taylor in the middle. "We miss you." She said in barely a whisper.

"Thanks 'Mione, but don't worry I'll be out of here tomorrow." Harry reassured but Hermione still looked skeptical.

"I know Harry, but your still going to be sore, and I hate seeing you in pain." Hermione started to tear up, so Harry started rubbing her arm with his hand.

"Don't worry about me Hermione." Hermione nodded and the two of them stayed in a comfortable silence that is until Harry realized something. "Hermione?"

"Hmm?" she asked eyes drooping.

"Did you come with anybody down here? Or did you come by yourself?" Hermione looked up at a worried Harry.

"I came by myself."

"Why? That was just putting you and Taylor in danger."

"I know. I just wanted to stay with you, and back up in the common room Fred, George, and Draco are giving the first years a hard time, so I didn't want to be in the middle of that." Hermione said not totally convincing Harry.

"But what about Ellie or Cho or somebody else?"

"You are such a prat you know that?" Hermione laughed while lightly hitting him on his good arm. "Do I need to make up an excuse just to come down to see you?" she asked with the same puppy dog eyes that made Harry melt at her feet.

At first Harry was offended then he was overjoyed. Hermione came down risking her life, and Taylor's, just to come and see him. "How are you going to get back up to the Apache room then?" Harry wondered.

Hermione shrugged. "I was thinking I could spend the night in here on one of the spare hospital beds. I figured you might want to sleep with Taylor also." She mentioned stroking Taylor's brownish hair.

Harry smiled. "Okay Hermione, you can sleep in the bed to the right of mine."

Hermione sat up from her position kissed Taylor on the head, then leaned over and kissed Harry on the cheek. "Goodnight Harry."

Harry was shocked at Hermione's boldness, and couldn't get the words out of his mouth. He just managed to lay there dumbfounded. Hermione giggled then hopped into her bed drifting off to sleep. Harry stared at her sleeping form. "Goodnight 'Mione…"

~*~*~* Harry's dream…~*~*~*

"_Hungry, Thirsty, Kill! Ahh… Must eat! Now!"_

"_Hold on little one, your time will come."_

"_I spy fresh blood sleeping on the second floor, master. Please let me go after her!"_

"_NO! Not yet!"_

"_AHHHHHHHHHH!"_

~*~*~* End of dream~*~*~*

Harry woke up with a start, sweat soaking his body he just had a dream about the voice. Hadn't he? "_Hungry, Thirsty, Kill!" _The voice spoke this time louder then before. No his dream in fact was not a dream. It was reality. Harry looked down at Taylor still fast asleep in his arms despite how wet he was. And Hermione was still sleeping soundly in the bed next to his. Ron was how he usually looked; butt in the air and drooling.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. The voice had not gotten to anybody in the wing, but his relief did not last long for a shadow was lurking around the hospital wings tinted windows. Harry held his breath holding Taylor close and grabbing his wand off the bedside table. Harry quietly got up from his bed and leaned over Hermione putting his hand over her mouth. She of course woke up instantly but luckily didn't scream. Harry pointed to the moving shadow that was circling the wing. Hermione silently gasped and held onto Harry.

"Harry what is that?" she breathed.

Harry shrugged his shoulders and carefully picked up Taylor, put his arm around Hermione while the little "family" backed away towards madam Pomfrey's office. Harry kept his wand level with the main hospital door as well as Hermione. When they reached their healer's door they couldn't open it for it was locked. "_Alohomora!_" Hermione whispered with force evident in her voice. The door swung open and the trio was about to enter when Harry remembered Ron.

"Wait, we can't leave Ron in here." Harry said worried about his friend.

Hermione looked back at Ron, then at Harry. "Be careful Harry."

"Don't worry Hermione." Harry handed Taylor to Hermione then quietly crept to Ron's bed not taking his eyes off the shadow. Slipping his hand over Ron's mouth, the red head still didn't get up. Harry realized that Ron was not going to get up this way, so Harry quietly placed a levitation charm on Ron and slowly brought him into the office. When he entered Hermione closed the door and Harry plopped Ron down on the nearest chair.

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm and led him to the other side of the room to where Madam Pomfrey was looking scared out of her wits. "Quick Potter, I have got Dumbledore on the floo." She instructed forcing him in front of the fire. Harry brushed his shoulder off then Dumbledore appeared out of the fire.

"Poppy, what is the emergency?" he wondered looking very tired.

"Albus, there is a strange lurking shadow outside the hospital wing. Harry noticed it. It is really freaking us out, please do something about it."

Dumbledore nodded then left the office. A few minutes later the old man returned. "Well?" Hermione asked expectantly.

Dumbledore smiled. "No need to worry, whoever was there is gone now. You can go to bed all right? I will see to Heffner in the morning about this. Goodnight all." He bade then the old man stepped into the fireplace vanishing.

Harry was furious how was anyone supposed to sleep now? And now Taylor was getting scared so she started crying. Hermione was walking around the room trying to calm down the crying girl but nothing was really helping. Harry and Poppy helped Ron back to his bed then Poppy went back into her office. Harry walked over to Hermione and took Taylor from her. "You go get some sleep 'Mione, I'll try to calm down Tay right now."

Hermione smiled gratefully. "Thank you Harry, but I don't want to go to bed quiet yet. Can I sit with you for a little while?"

"Whatever you want 'Mione." With that said, Harry sat on his bed with Hermione lying against his shoulder and Taylor hugging his neck with all her might. Not to long after, all three fell into a semi peaceful sleep.

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"Wakey wake sunshine's!" Draco greeted leaning over the bed that had Harry, Taylor, and Hermione was in.

Harry groaned. "Draco, don't wake them up."

"Why?"

"Because something bad happened last night so now everyone is scared and they need to sleep in peace."

Draco was confused. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Harry let out a sarcastic chuckle. "Of course you don't. Well last night I happened to hear the voice again, saw a creepy shadow lurking around outside the wing, and the voice was talking about Hermione…" he hissed.

Draco's mouth dropped open. "Wait, how do you know the voice was talking about Hermione?"

"Well first it said, '_I spy fresh blood sleeping on the second floor, master. Please let me go after her._' And two the hospital wing is on the second floor, there are no houses on this floor or anything. Hermione was the only girl besides Taylor who was here sleeping, and-."

"Wait what about Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hope? They're girls to." Draco cut in.

Harry shook his head slightly. "I don't exactly qualify them as 'girls' more like aged 'women'." Harry explained, making Draco understand.

"So true."

"Yup, so anyway what time is it?" Harry wondered rubbing his eyes.

Draco looked down at his watch. "7:30 want to head down to breakfast?"

"Yeah, let me just get Hermione and Taylor." Draco nodded and waited for Harry to shake them awake. Hermione had bags under her eyes and her face looked oddly pale, but she put a happy face on for Taylor.

The group made their way down to the dinner hall, and sat with the H.A. members who now made a habit of sitting at the end of the Apache table away from everyone. They all welcomed Harry back with open arms, then Harry and Hermione told the members what had happened the previous night.

"Have you talked to Dumbledore about this?" Seamus asked concerned.

"Yeah, yesterday, and he was going to answer me, but the minister barged in and interrupted whatever Dumbledore was about to say."

Seamus looked disappointed so he went back to feeding his son. "Don't feel to bad Harry, Dumbledore just has a lot on his mind." Luna reassured.

"Thanks Luna." He murmured.

After breakfast the group disbanded to their separate classes. Harry and Draco going to DADA of course. This time they made sure they came in with the rest of the class so they didn't have to do any extra work for Pore like they did last time.

This DADA lesson they were working on _Flipendo _Harry and Draco didn't know this spell yet, so they were happy they finally go to participate with the class on something.After class Harry, Draco, and Grace all headed down to Home ec. When they arrived at the room Phoebe, Kelly, Goldby, and Pore were already waiting for them.

"Alright class." Kelly began. "Today you will spend a half hour cleaning your house then when your time is up you, your partner, and your baby will stand outside your door and wait patiently for a inspector to come by your home. Alright time begins now." Kelly announced. The students all bustled to get to their house. Harry and Hermione got to theirs to see the place trashed.

Curtains were ripped, garbage was everywhere, the furniture was thrown everywhere, and the fake food in the fridge was smooshed. "Harry, Kelly didn't say anything about our houses being trashed." Hermione exclaimed in disbelief.

"Wait here 'Mione, I'll be right back." Harry rushed out the door and knocked on Draco and Ellie's door. Draco opened it curiously.

"Oh, hey Harry didn't expect to see you here."

"Yeah, Yeah cut the chit chat. Is your house trashed?" Harry asked his patience level decreasing.

Draco stared at Harry like he was mad. "No, it is exactly how we left it last time we were here. You know technically we only need to dust a little bit and vacuum a couple spots nothing big."

Harry was furious. "Draco, somebody trashed me and Hermione's home."

"No way! Let me see." Draco exclaimed following Harry next door. As soon as Draco walked into the house he froze with shock. "Bloody hell! What happened here?"

"We don't know." Harry said angrily.

A smile crept onto Draco's face. "Don't worry guys me and Ellie will help you. We don't need to do anything to our house anyway."

"Thank you Draco!" Hermione thanked hugging him.

For the rest of the half hour the group went to war with the messy house. Thirty seconds left to spare they threw the last piece of trash away then each one rushing to stand outside their house. "_Tweeeeet!_" the sound of Kelly's whistle made. "Time's up, please wait till one of us reaches your home. Each group waited patiently then finally Phoebe walked up the Harry and Hermione's door.

"Is this the Potter residents?" she asked professionally.

Hermione did not hesitate. "Yes."

"Good, well will you please show me your home?"

"Of course Professor." Hermione politely said back.

For as trashed as the place was the team did a really good job on fixing it up. The place probably looked better then before. Phoebe was certainly impressed. "Well done with the place."

"Thanks, but we had a question." Harry said approaching Phoebe.

"What would that be Mr. Potter?"

"When me and Hermione first walked into our house, this place was trashed. We were wondering if it was part of the test."

Phoebe didn't answer for a second. "No, we don't trash the houses on purpose. I have no idea why your house was trashed, sorry."

"Right." Harry and Hermione said together.

Finally the class was over and that meant that the weekend had officially started. The school was a mad house. Most people got changed into swimsuits to head down to the beach but Harry, Hermione, Draco, Blaise, and Ellie stayed behind. They were planning on breaking into Heffner's office while most of the teachers including him were at the beach enjoying themselves.

"All right so does everyone know the plan?" Harry asked the small group who was just outside the portrait of a duck.

"Ready when you are Harry." Ellie said taking out a piece of paper and handing it to Harry.

Looking down at the paper Harry did exactly as it said to do. "_Walt Disney!_" Harry announced to the portrait hole. The duck transformed into Donald Duck then pulled an imaginary robe to open the portrait up. Heffner's office was in the tallest tower of the castle and luckily overlooking the beach, so they had a clear view to see if anyone was to come back up to the castle. While Blaise and Hermione were look out, Ellie helped Harry and Draco find the secret place where Heffner hides student/teacher files.

"Ellie do you know what to do to get into the files?" Draco asked inspecting the enchantments placed on the enchanted box.

"Yeah, just say these counter spells." Ellie handed Harry another sheet of paper this one filled with seven different spells.

Harry took a deep breath and carefully said each one slowly taking the protection off the box. "Ellie, how do you know how to do this?" Harry asked as the box glowed indicating all the protection charms had been removed.

"Cody. He is like the king of this castle. He knows everything about it. So I asked him about Heffner's office and he wrote down a bunch of spells and secrets about the place."

"Well, we definitely owe him big time."

"All right Harry, open the box." Draco urged.

Harry did just that. He lifted the lid open to find a never ending inside with hundreds and hundreds of files. "Okay I'm going to find Phoebe's I'll be right back." Harry said lighting up his wand and going down into the box.

The group waited ten minutes for Harry and finally Draco got bored so he grabbed a random file and started flipping through it. "Harry are you done yet?" A very bored Blaise shouted.

"Yeah! I'm coming up." Harry announced throwing Phoebe's file up out of the box then helping himself up. "Alright I looked at her file and I was right Phoebe is a Parsel Tongue, but a secret Parsel Tongue. I knew the attacker was her." Harry exclaimed excitedly.

"Um, Harry I wouldn't be to sure of that." Draco warned.

"Why not? All the proof is right here in the file."

"That may be so but I just picked up a file and this person happens to be a Parsel Tongue to." Draco said looking down at the manila folder. The whole group stopped and stared at Draco.

"What do you mean mate?" Harry asked confused. "Who else is a Parsel Tongue?"

Draco looked up at his friends with a frightened face. "Professor Pore."

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**Sorry bout the delay, I got sick and was unable to write :P but I got the chapter up. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't worry; the story gets a whole lot more interesting from here. Please Review and tell me what ya think :) Thanks! –SR7**


	15. Halloween horror

**Sorry about the late update I'll try to be better next time. This chapter is a month later from my last chapter, and this chapter I am going to switch people's views so this chapter isn't all Harry's view on the situation. Just to tell ya… Please read and review! Thanks –SR7**

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A month had gone by since Harry and his team broke into Heffner's office, and unfortunately so far the information they found then is the only information they have so far. Phoebe and Pore are still huge suspects, but if they are the dark lord or lords they know how to hide it well. No attacks have hit since Darrick's attack and Gavin is still being watched wherever he goes by Auror Blake. Snape has still not been able to open the mysterious box, and Sirius has not written back yet. Harry found this all rather depressing, Dumbledore again was avoiding Harry and Cho was hanging around Harry much more then he would have liked. Finally the day October 21, 1995 things begin to happen.

"Harry, do you think you can show me how to cast a patronus?" a voice asked that sounded a whole lot like Cho's.

Harry turned around from his breakfast and stared at the pretty Asian girl. "Why don't you ask Brian to show you? He is your husband after all, and I do hear he is pretty skilled in the defense class." He stated motioning his finger at Brian, the tall Pueblo sixth year.

Cho turned her head to look at him. "Yeah, I guess, but he isn't nearly as talented as you."

Her face turned sad and helpless, and for some reason Harry couldn't say no. "Alright Cho, after dinner on the Quidditch pitch. Got it?"

Cho smiled flirtatiously. "Yup! See you then Harry!" then she flipped her black hair off her shoulder and walked out of the dinner hall.

"What the bloody hell do you think your doing?" another voice shrieked from behind him.

Harry turned around to find himself face to face with Ginny. "What do you mean?" he asked confused. Ginny rolled her eyes and sat down next to Harry. Taking her hand she looked at it once then hit him on the arm, hard. "Frick! What was that?" Harry asked alarmed and in pain.

"You are a stupid idiotic prat!"

"What? Would you mind telling me why?"

Ginny rolled her eyes again. "You do realize you just made a date with Cho Chang right? And you do realize you are a married man still, with a baby, right?"

"I did not make a date with Cho." Harry scoffed furious at Ginny's accusation.

"Like I said before, you are such a idiot! Haven't you noticed for the last month Cho has been trying to make a move on you? And how she has been trying to get you to ask her out for that long as well?" Ginny asked a little louder then meant to be.

Harry shushed her and looked around them for anybody listening, luckily no one was. "I do realize Cho has been a little friendlier to me then normal, but it probably just has to do with the whole Cedric thing. Besides, I'm married to Hermione, and I wouldn't ever cheat on her." Harry stated getting up and leaving the dinner hall, and a very pissed Ginny.

Harry stormed down the castles corridors in a bad mood when he got to the fourth floor he ran into Luna, literally. Luna fell to the ground in a heap then she got a glassy eyed expression on her face.

Shaking off her slight dizziness she looked up at Harry. "Harry, you might want to think about clearing the Nargels away from your head." She said as if nothing had just happened.

A little dazed himself Harry helped Luna up and apologized. "Sorry Luna, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"No need to apologize Harry, I can tell something is bothering you, and you prefer to be alone right now so I won't get in your way. You might want to hurry though, Filch and Mario are scouting out the fifth floor and they're in a bad mood from one of Fred and George's pranks."

"Thanks Luna, I appreciate it, and again I'm sorry for knocking you over." Luna dismissed the comment then skipped off down the corridor towards the stairs. Harry turned back around towards the opposite staircase and took a deep breath. Luckily Luna is like she is sometimes. Harry then continued on his way towards the Apache common room. Finally getting to Chief Wan Harry said the password then Wan let him in to the common room lazily.

Hermione was sitting on the couch bouncing Taylor on her lap when Harry walked into the common room. The brunette looked up then beamed up at Harry. "Hey!" she greeted patting the seat next to her for Harry. Harry smiled and gratefully took the seat also grabbing Taylor from Hermione's arms. Hermione brought her legs up from a sitting position so she was sitting on them then rested her head on her hand watching Harry with a concerned expression. "Harry what's wrong?" she wondered.

Harry looked up at Hermione and stared into her eyes for a second before looking away. "Nothing. Ginny just irked me to a new level just now, and I needed my space from her."

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and bit her lip. "What did she do?"

"She's accusing me of asking-." Harry couldn't continue, when he turned back towards Hermione he didn't feel like he had the heart to tell her the truth. "… Of asking Ron to shave his head." Harry lied turning away from the girl again.

Hermione sighed. "Harry, I really do wish you would be nicer to Ron, honestly what has he done to you?"

Harry turned back to Hermione a crazy look in his eye. "Why are you telling me to be nicer to Ron? You're the one who always gets in fights with him."

"Well it's different with us. But you and Ron have been best friends for a long time, and I really don't want to talk about him right now, so if you would excuse me I'm going to take Taylor on a walk with Ellie and Bella." Hermione said quickly taking Taylor back and exiting the room, not looking back once at Harry.

Harry sighed and covered his face in his hands then let out a loud groan. Draco looked up from his homework at the sound of Harry's groan and sighed. "What is wrong now?" Draco moaned quietly to himself walking over to Harry and sitting down next to him. "Alright mate, tell me why you are acting all down." Draco demanded.

Taking his hands off his face Harry looked up at the blonde. "Nothing, I'm just really confused right now."

"What about?" Draco wondered.

"Hermione and Cho."

Draco paused and stared at his friend. "What… Why? I thought you had this mega crush on Hermione that was so big you were willing to risk your friendship with Ron just to have her."

Harry nodded. "I know, but all of a sudden Cho has somehow found a way into my life again. I thought I let her go last year when I discovered Hermione, but nope for some reason I'm starting to get the hots for her again. I just don't know why."

"Idiot!" Draco exclaimed punching Harry on the arm.

"Ouch! What the heck?"

"Sorry mate, but you deserved that." Draco was about to strike Harry on the arm again, but brought his fist down knowing it was wrong. Draco took a deep breath then looked back at Harry. "Mate, would you feel different about Cho if you knew Hermione liked you back?"

"Well I don't know. Hermione hasn't really shown me she's liked me before so again I say. I don't know."

This time Draco couldn't resist, he clutched his fist together and hit Harry on the arm with all his might. "How much more of a idiot can you get? Do you seriously think Hermione doesn't like you?"

"Well I don't know, why do you think she does?" Harry asked rubbing his throbbing arm.

"Do I think she does?" Draco chuckled shocked at Harry's question. "Mate, she has been there for you since first year. I always see her stealing glances at you during classes, meals, whatever you two do together. Heck, she's put up with your whole Voldemort thing. She coped with the Rita Skeeter thing last year. Oh, and whenever you were doing a task last year she was always holding her breath till you finished, and it wasn't until then did she breath again. Just a month ago you two were chosen to be parents together for Taylor, you all slept in the same bed that one night in the hospital, and she kissed you on the cheek, but may I remind you that was not the only time she has ever done that during these past five years. Should I continue?" Draco explained and asked looking at Harry expectantly.

Harry stared at Draco then thought back on his life ever since he first met Hermione on the train. "You really think she likes me?" he asked in a soft voice.

Draco groaned. "Were you just listening to me? Of course I do!"

Harry gave him a small smile. "Well I was listening, but what am I going to do about my feelings for Cho?"

It was now Draco's turn to be confused. "Honestly mate, I don't think I can help you. Just remember this, you and Hermione are married with baby Taylor and Cho and Brian are married with baby Mimi. So before you decide who you like, I would think very carefully on the situation." Draco got up and patted Harry on the shoulder lightly. "I'll be hanging out Seth and David in the kitchens if you need me." Harry nodded then Draco left through the portrait hole.

Harry sighed, why was life so complicated? Harry was deep in thought about his two girls when he felt the couch sink a little lower next to him. Looking up Harry saw a pretty sad looking Cody. "So Potter, I hear you like Cho now, well let me tell ya that hurt me when I found out, and if you think this hurts me just wait till Hermione finds out about this."

"I thought you liked Grace now." Harry moaned not wanting to get into this conversation.

Cody let out a _pfft_ noise. "Dude Grace is just my partner for the project, yeah I admit she's a sweet girl and there's definitely nothing wrong with her, but you knew I liked Cho, a lot. And now you do to, just all of a sudden. Draco told me about your huge crush on Hermione, what happened to her?" The blonde asked softly but sternly.

"Listen something you don't know is last year I to had a big crush on Cho, but I stopped for a while because I discovered Hermione, but now I'm so confused because I think I'm starting to like both of them. I still like Hermione but now I also have these unknown feelings for Cho."

"Well you better stop." Cody spat getting up and storming out of the room.

Harry was shocked, Cody, Draco, and Ginny all think he is cheating on Hermione, but he wasn't really dating Hermione, so what was the big deal? Letting out a frustrated groan, Harry grabbed his Firebolt and headed out to the Quidditch pitch for some thinking time, alone.

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**~*~*~*Draco's P.O.V. ~*~*~***

_Walking down the corridor I feel like I'm about to burst. Why do I care about Bloody Harry Potter and Hermione Granger's life all of a sudden? This is leading to nothing but heartbreak; I need to tell her about Harry and his new feelings. But if I do that, then she'll be pissed at me. Ugh, why is life so complicated? Where's Cody? _

Draco looked behind him to see no other blonde in the hallway so he proceeded on towards the beach. Halfway there a second Blonde bobbed up besides Draco. "Sup snake." He greeted rudely.

"Mate, you know that term is very offensive to me now that I'm not in Slytherin. Besides who told you I was a snake?" Draco asked pouting slightly.

Cody cocked his eyebrow and twitched his mouth. "You did."

"Oh. Well anyway have you seen Hermione? She said she was going on a walk with Ellie, but I don't know where they went."

Cody put his hands on his hips then looked around them. "You know, maybe Ellie went to show Hermione our secret place down the beach."

"What place?"

Laughing at Draco's face Cody slapped his back so they were still walking down the beach. "In our first year, me and Ellie needed a place to just get away without people knowing where we were so one afternoon we were walking down the beach and voila! We found a cave, so over the years we've been stocking it up so it's homier. I'm guessing Ellie took Hermione over there to look at it."

"Ok, C.B. lead the way, I really need to talk to Hermione, and actually now that I think about it I need to talk to you to, so we better hurry before they leave."

"Gotcha, can you keep up?" Cody asked yelling as he took off down the beach. Draco rolled his eyes and reluctantly ran after him.

Draco and Cody ran for five minutes, it was long enough to lose most sight of the castle so no one could follow them. Cody led Draco to a sand dune that had a small door carved in the side of the sand. "Alright this is it. Follow me." Cody instructed squatting down and slowly opening the door.

Draco's eyes wandered around the roomy rocky walled room, Cody and Ellie filled it with Apache merchandise, and there was also dozens of seashell's and sea glass just filled throughout then room making it sparkle. Ellie and Hermione were sitting on a rug crowding a little ball of fire that was floating in front of them. Taylor and Bella were sleeping on some mats a few feet away from them. Ellie watched the boys with curiosity. "Cody, Draco; what are you two doing here?"

"I need to talk to Hermione and Cody it's important." Draco told her. "But of course your welcome to stay." He added after seeing his wife's face.

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the former Slytherin. "What is it Draco?"

Taking a deep breath he and Cody sat down with the girls and Draco began. "Hermione, it is my understanding that you have this crush on Harry, right?"

Hermione blushed. "Yes."

Draco waved his hand out in front of him several times. "Don't worry about it Hermione, anyway have you been getting jealous at all about… Cho?"

Staring at Draco with curiosity Hermione spoke. "Why should I be jealous of Cho? I thought she liked Cody."

"Me to!" Cody exclaimed with rage.

"Shut up C.B." Draco hissed, then he turned back to a scared looking Hermione. "Listen, 'Mione I-."

"Don't call me 'Mione, only Harry calls me 'Mione." Hermione snapped.

Draco put his hands up in defeat and continued. "Sorry _Her_mione, don't freak out, but anyway word on the street is that Cho has got Harry under her spell. He is totally smitten with her, tonight he promised to teach her the patronus charm on the Quidditch pitch, alone. Ginny told me, because she over heard them talking at breakfast this morning. Oh, and get this I asked him if he still liked you, and he say's he does but then he said he also likes Cho now, and that this whole thing has got him confused."

Hermione shook her head. "I refuse to believe any of this. Harry gave up on Cho last year when she liked Cedric, besides Harry has more common sense to him then to actually like two girls at once." Draco, Cody, and Ellie exchanged glances feeling sorry for Hermione and her 'logic'.

"Hermione face the facts, Harry's moved on." Ellie finally said kicking her self in the butt mentally as she said it.

"No, he probably just wants me to think that so I can make a move because I'm "jealous" which I'm not, because he doesn't like Cho!" Hermione yelled angrily picking up Taylor and storming out of the alcove.

The three left sitting there took a deep breath. "Well she didn't handle that well." Draco mentioned filling in the awkward silence.

"Come on, lets get out of here." Ellie groaned forcing baby Bella into Draco's arms. "You get to carry her back to the castle." She ordered storming out of the alcove like Hermione did.

"Good luck with her." Cody praised sarcastically patting Draco's back then following his sister out the door. Draco shook his head then followed the twins out.

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**~*~*~* Back to Harry's P.O.V. ~*~*~***

"…_Idiot! …Prat! …Hermione! …Cho! …Cheater!" _ These words kept ringing in Harry's head; he couldn't concentrate on his flying so he stopped in mid-air to just gaze at his surroundings.Coming back from the beach out way in the distance Harry could see Hermione's figure quickly walking to the castle, and three other blonde figures behind her walking much more slowly.

"I- am- a- idiot." Harry slowly said to himself. Why did he ever have to think about this? Hermione was meant for him, not Cho. Cho was trying to make a move on him, and he didn't even notice. Harry slapped himself on the face for not realizing this sooner. Harry descended from the air and ran back towards Duraflame castle to tell Hermione how he felt before he got interrupted again.

Sadly though that was not to happen because when Harry ran up the steps he ran into Cho. "Cho! What are you doing here? I mean sorry for running into you." Harry apologized trying to back away from her, but she stopped him.

"Harry! Great, I was just looking for you!" Cho exclaimed happily. "I was wondering if you could help me clean Professor Dunn's classroom with me. He told me I had to, but I could invite a… friend." She stuttered trying hard to keep a cute face.

Torn between helping Cho and going after Hermione, Harry reluctantly chose to help Cho since Dunn had asked her after all, and she was counting on him to help. "Fine Cho, but we need to make this quick, I have somewhere else to go." He seethed.

"Don't worry Harry this won't take long." Cho reassured smirking. Harry nodded and followed Cho down to the potions classroom.

Ten hours later (7:00) Harry had helped Cho clean the classroom, helped Cho polish the school brooms, and helped Cho with her DADA homework. Harry was pooped, and sadly the day wasn't over, after dinner he would have to help her _again_ on her patronus charm. Harry mentally kicked himself several times as he made his way to the dinner hall and listened to Cho babble on about something he wasn't listening to.

Finally Harry told her that he would see her after dinner on the Quidditch pitch so she smiled and skipped off towards her friends at the other end of the Apache table. Letting out a sigh of relief Harry sat down besides Draco and Ron at the table. Filling his plate with dinner he couldn't help but notice people staring at him. When he looked up, the whole H.A. team was silently staring at him with frowns on their faces. "What?" Harry finally blurted out.

Most of the group ignored him and went back to their lasagna so Harry turned to Ron and Draco. His two friends exchanged silent scowls then Draco spoke. "So, you spent the whole day with Cho, if I'm not mistaken. Why?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, because she needed help today and I didn't want to leave her stranded."

"She could have asked Brian to help her!" Ron snapped.

"Why is everyone ignoring me and staring at me oddly?" Harry asked trying to fill an awkward silence.

Ron spit in his cup. "Because everyone hates you."

"What for?" Harry squeaked.

"For being a troll to Hermione." Draco finished for Ron.

Harry gulped down his guilt, and looked up and down the table. "Where is Hermione?" he wondered.

"Probably somewhere sulking, alone. You really hurt her Harry, and you don't even care." Ron spat getting up from the table and leaving taking his dinner with him.

Harry turned to Draco. "Mate, I can explain."

Draco shook his head. "There's nothing to explain, I heard what you told me this morning. I saw what I saw today and this last month. I used to think Hermione was a filthy mudblood, but now Harry, I think you're worst then that." Draco bowed his head so that he didn't have to look at Harry as he said this.

Shocked Harry's heart stopped for a second. "Mate, I can explain just let me explain it to you. Please!" Harry begged.

Again Draco shook his head. "I'm not the one you need to explain things to. Hermione really liked you, but you blew her off, even if she doesn't believe it yet."

"What do you mean she doesn't believe it yet?"

"Me, Cody, and Ellie talked to her today, about you. And she refused to except that you would ever like Cho, then she stormed out of the room, looking like she was about to strangle Taylor." Draco explained sourfully. Getting up Draco looked back down at Harry. "Maybe Ginny was right, you are nothing but a prat." With those hurtful words said, Draco left the hall.

Harry painfully turned back and stared at Luna who was staring at him across from him. "Harry, don't beat yourself up. Draco and Ron are just mad because they can be, don't take it to personally, they think their helping Hermione when really their not. And don't worry I believe you that you changed your mind about Cho, I can see it in your eyes that you long for Hermione. If I were you I would go after her, try to win her back before Ron makes a move on her." Luna explained giving Harry a small smile.

"I wish it was that easy Luna, but I promised Cho I would help her on her patronus charm after dinner today. Could you do me a favor and keep Ron and Draco and whoever else hates me off my case for the next hour or so?" Harry asked quickly because he could see Cho making her way towards him.

Luna smiled. "You can count on me Harry."

"Thanks." Harry grinned at her then waited till Cho made her way to him.

"Ready to go Harry?" Cho wondered twirling her hair on her wand.

"Yeah Harry, are you ready to go with Cho-Cho?" Seamus mocked, laughing with Dean and Blaise.

"Shut up Finnegan." Harry hissed leaving the dinner hall with Cho trailing behind him.

When Harry and Cho arrived at the Quidditch pitch Harry turned so he was facing the Ravenclaw. "Alright Cho, let me see what you can do right now."

Cho hesitated, but then pointed her wand up and let out a feeble cry. "_expecto patronum." _ A shimmer of smoke came out of her wand then evaporated.

Harry let out a chuckle. "Um, not bad Chang, but your doing it wrong. What you want to do is really shout it with a lot of force, and concentrate while you do it. But the most important thing to do is think of the happiest memory you remember and think about it while you cast the spell…"

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**~*~*~* Hermione's P.O.V. ~*~*~* **

"Face it Granger, he's moved on." Draco urged the brunette while he, Ron, and Ginny were in the library trying to get Hermione to see what they thought was the truth.

"Yeah Hermione, why are you so caught up on Harry being the good guy in this situation?" Ginny asked her closing the book Hermione was trying to read.

Hermione looked up annoyed. "Because I know Harry wouldn't do that to me."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Hermione, of course he would. Harry is a teenage guy, plus you two aren't exactly dating so he's still on the market and free for any girl including Cho to snatch up." He reasoned.

"Well tonight I'm going to tell him how I feel with a picnic on the Quidditch pitch." Hermione said smiling to herself.

Ron rolled his eyes this time. "Hermy…" He started earning a mad looking Hermione, since she hates that name. "You're only going to get your heart broken. Harry is out on the pitch tonight teaching Cho how to cast a patronus, you're only going to get hurt if you go out there."

"Nope, again I refuse to believe any of this crap. Now if you excuse me I have to go talk to Harry." Hermione argued getting up and calling Dobby who brought her a picnic basket already made up. "Draco, do you mind babysitting Taylor for a bit?"

Draco sighed in defeat. "Not a problem, but if you do get disappointed, I'll be in the Apache common room."

"Yeah, and we will be in the Cortez common room, the password is _whizzbiz_." Ron also said earning a punch in the arm from Ginny.

"Thanks guys, see you later." Hermione said waving goodbye and heading out the big doors towards the pitch.

Feeling pretty good about herself Hermione practically skipped up the path towards the pitch humming to herself. When she got the entrance she slowed down at the sound of laughing. Slowly she crept down the tunnel that led to the field, keeping in the shadows. Craning her neck around she saw Cho's patronus. It was a swan, and she and Harry were laughing about something, but then Harry cast his patronus and the two patroness's started playing with each other making the couple laugh harder.

A bomb hit Hermione's stomach and she didn't like it one bit, sadly looking down at the perfectly prepared picnic basket she dropped it then ran out back towards the castle in tears, because for the first time in a month Harry looked happy, and she wasn't there to share it with him.

Sprinting up the steps she didn't bother looking back at the first years she ran over by accident. Not stopping till she was at the Apache common room, she burst through the portrait hole to find Draco on one of the couches playing with Taylor, but when he saw Hermione come in he stood up then Hermione started truly crying as she ran up to Draco and hugged him with all she had.

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**~*~*~* Harry's P.O.V. ~*~*~***

"Thank you again Harry for showing me the proper way to produce a patronus tonight." Cho gushed as she and Harry made their way to the Apache common room.

Harry gave her a half smile. "It was nothing Cho, just do what you did for Professor Pore what you just did for me."

Cho happily nodded then said the password to Chief Wan, who let them in. Harry could have sworn that Wan scowled at him though. Cho directly skipped off towards the girls' sixth year dorm, while Harry took in his surroundings. Sitting on the couch was Draco who had his arm around Hermione who was crying in his shoulder. Then on the floor in front of them were Cody and Ellie, who were currently frowning at him. Also behind them standing up was Seth, David, Darrick, Fred, and George and none of them looked happy.

Carefully walking up to them Harry spoke. "What's wrong?"

"Hermione's upset." Cody spat.

"I can see that, but why?" Harry wondered asking quietly and softly looking at the girl deeply.

The group exchanged uneasy looks then Draco spoke standing up. "Maybe you and Hermione need to talk about this." Then turning to the rest of the group he started barking out instructions. "Alright team! Get all of the remaining people out of the common room so Harry and Hermione can talk in private."

The group nodded then rounded up some very mad students and led them to their dorms; finally it was only Harry and Hermione in the room. Sniffing Hermione covered her head in her hands. Harry sighed. "What's wrong 'Mione?"

Hermione looked up at him choked back a tear then grabbed the nearest pillow and hit him with it.

"Did I deserve that?" Harry asked the crying girl.

"Yes, and you deserve a lot more." She spat.

" 'Mione, please tell me what I did wrong so I can apologize correctly." Harry pleaded sitting down next to her.

Harry could see Hermione's cheeks growing red and her lip quivering. Finally she sputtered. "It's nothing, stupid actually. You don't need to know."

"Please tell me 'Mione, I promise not to laugh." He promised sincerely.

Hermione got an uneasy expression, and then finally she turned to Harry. "Do you really want to know?" Harry nodded earnestly. Hermione took a deep breath then she spoke. "I like you Harry. A lot, but not just friends, like I have this crush on you thing, but I promise you its not like Ginny's school girl crush. I genuinely like you, like you. I wanted to tell you tonight at the Quidditch pitch, but when I got there you were with Cho, and you two looked like you were having a great time. I guess I got jealous." Hermione buried her head in the pillow in embarrassment.

Harry for some reason couldn't help but smiling, Hermione liked him! "Hermione, I really like you to, I've been trying to tell you that all day, but Cho kept sticking more work on me to do with her, and I just couldn't say no and leave her alone to do it. Forgive me?" Harry exclaimed giddily.

Removing her head out of the pillow Hermione looked up at him. "That's one of the reasons I like you. You can't help it you just always have to help a friend when they need it."

Smiling Harry lost his head for he didn't realize what he was about to do, leaning closer to Hermione he closed his eyes then kissed her. The kiss didn't last long just maybe three seconds, but it was a perfect first kiss in Harry's book. When he pulled away Hermione smiled. "That was a great late birthday present." Harry smiled then walked Hermione to the foot of the stairs leading up to the girls' dorms.

"Goodnight 'Mione." He granted kissing her cheek.

" 'Night Harry." She said back going up the stairs to go to bed, definitely feeling better.

Going up to the boy's fifth year dorm room he opened the door slightly when he hit something. Peering in to see what he hit he saw Draco, Cody, David, Seth, and Darrick all sprawled out on the floor holding the back of their heads. "Harry! How'd it go?" Draco wondered bouncing up.

Harry smirked at the blonde. "Let's just say, I got my first kiss before you did." He chanted laughing at Malfoy's face.

"You kissed her! And she let you?" Draco asked loudly.

"Yeah, she actually leaned into the kiss, it wasn't just all me."

"What happened? When we left she hated your bloody guts." Cody and Draco asked at the same time.

"Actually we didn't talk for very long, she finally told me she liked me, I returned saying the same thing, I kissed her, then I walked her to the stairs, and bid her goodnight."

Draco's mouth hung open. "Do you mean to tell me you didn't ask her to be your girlfriend?" he asked gob smacked.

"Oops… I totally forgot about that!" Freaking out Harry started pacing the room.

"Don't worry Harry, you can ask her in the morning. No need to get yourself worked up over this right now. You should get some sleep; you had a big day today, as did us all so goodnight peeps!" Cody bade getting into his bed and drawing the drapes that surrounded it.

"Goodnight!" everyone else chanted back.

_~*~*~* Harry's dream ~*~*~*_

"_Hungry… Thirsty… Kill!"_

"_I saw what just happened. Fresh blood for me to get, she looks like a fresh catch for me, better watch out, I'm coming…"_

_~*~*~* End of dream ~*~*~*_

"Ahhhh!" Harry screamed waking up from his nightmare. Someone was out to get Hermione, and he had yet to figure out whom it was.

Waking up Draco grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at the panting boy. "Would you shut up? It's four in the morning, we could all do without your early morning screaming." Draco snapped fluffing his pillow and laying his head on it again.

"Draco!" Harry urged shaking Draco trying to wake him up fully.

"What!" He yelled finally getting up.

Harry sat at the end of his bed and took a deep breath. "I just had another nightmare. Whoever has been attacking the students is going to attack another, but I know who this time." Draco started at Harry intently waiting to hear what he was going to say next. "The attacker is going after Hermione."

Shocked at Harry's revolution Draco gulped then said. "But didn't the attacker try to attack Hermione before? When he or she was stalking the hospital wing that one night, and when you heard the voice in your dream."

"Exactly, mate you have to help me protect Hermione." Harry pleaded getting on his hands and knees and begging.

"No need for begging Potter, I'm in." Draco said patting Harry's shoulder.

"Thanks mate! Anyway can you help me with something?"

Draco cocked his eyebrow. "It depends, what is it?"

"I need help getting a certain box from the H.Q." Harry said leaving it at that then grabbing his invisibility cloak and duplicating it.

For the next hour Harry and Draco crept to the secret window, entered the H.Q., grabbed the box that contained the Viola Odorata from behind the plant, and crept back to the common room undetected. Once they got back, they put nose plugs in and opened the box. Luckily the little flower was still in there, and as deadly as ever.

"So why did you want to get this Harry?" Draco wondered as he watched Harry operate on the flower.

"It can protect Hermione for the time being." Harry said not looking up at his friend.

Draco furrowed his eyebrows and nodded still confused on the whole plan. Looking up at the clock it read 6:15. "Hey Harry I would put that flower away now, people are going to start coming down from the dorms, and I don't want to have to hide their body once they get a whiff of this Viola stuff."

Harry also looked up at the clock and agreed. "Alright, I'll go hide the box in my trunk then we'll head down to breakfast."

"Sounds like a plan." Draco replied waiting for Harry to hide the box. Harry ran up the stairs, but slowed down once he got to the door. He crept inside and carefully placed the fragile box underneath some books in his trunk. Then he crept back down the stairs, where he met Draco and where they headed down to breakfast, alone.

It only took fifteen minutes for people to start filing into the dinner hall, Harry and Draco were keeping their heads down to avoid any stares that were being thrown at Harry. Finally Hermione came in and happily sat next to Harry kissing him on the cheek. The fifth year Apache boys all smirked at this, but the other people in the H.A. group were confused. "So, I'm guessing you forgave him." Lavender directed towards Hermione in a very grown up tone.

Harry rolled his eyes, but Hermione said. "Yup! All is forgiven don't worry about it." After that everyone backed off of Harry and started treating him normally again. Unfortunately Cho started walking directly towards Harry from the doors and didn't stop.

Draco leaned in towards Harry and whispered. "Warning, Cho twelve o' clock."

Harry groaned and turned around standing right before him was Cho. "Hey Harry, I was wondering if you could come with me to Professor Phoebe/McGonagall's office. They're asking for us."

Cocking his eyebrow Harry glanced at his friends who were all giving Cho a dirty look. "Why do they need to see us?" he wondered.

Cho shrugged. "I don't know something about a ball and organizing it."

Hermione glanced at Harry and nodded. Harry looked back up at Cho. "Did they ask for anyone else?"

Cho furrowed her eyebrows and thought for a second. "Yes!" she finally exclaimed. "They also asked for Fred, George, Hermione, and Lavender."

Lavender squealed in delight. "Well what are you all waiting for? Lets get down there before we're late!"

Everyone rolled their eyes then the selected people made there way to the Transfiguration classroom. Inside Phoebe was sitting at her desk with McGonagall standing besides it. "Hurry up children we don't have all day." McGonagall snapped.

The group quickly sat down, and then listened to Phoebe. "Alright Hogwarts students, here at Duraflame we are planning our first ball in over a century in honor of your arrival. The original plan was to have it over Christmas, but since all of you participated in the Yule ball last year we decided to change the holiday. This ball is called the Hallows Eve ball, but in shorter terms just the Hallow ball."

"Yes and you six are in charge of the decorating and deciding where to hold it. We won't exactly have a theme besides elegant and sophisticated clothing, for those of you who are wondering." McGonagall indicated referring to Lavender's raised hand. She quickly put it down after that.

"All of you are expected to have dates, and this ball is for everyone, first year to seventh year. So pick a nice big place." Phoebe said smiling, Harry scowling at her smile.

"Now I think everyone here knows what to do, this ball will be held on Halloween so you better hurry up with the planning, before it's to late." McGonagall snapped leaving the room in a rush.

Phoebe stared after her with a curious expression, but shook it off. "Alright you heard her, crack to it then."

Planning this ball was a pain in the butt. Harry was in charge of finding a place to hold the ball while Fred and George did the band and food catering. And then the girls did decorating and flyers. As hard as this was turning out to be it was turning about quite nicely. Harry found an abandoned room somewhere in the school that was even bigger then the Great Hall. Hermione, Cho, and Lavender quickly got onto decorating the place with spooky stuff as well as glimmering lights and stars, giving the room a magical glow.

Fred and George again booked the Weird Sisters to sing at the ball as well as got the whole house elf staff to make the food on their list. Finally it was the day before the ball and nobody on the ball staff had asked anyone to the ball so as soon the group put the finishing touches on the room Fred and George hurried out to ask Angelina and Alicia to the ball. Lavender also hurried out to see if Ron had asked anybody, soon it was only Harry, Hermione, and Cho in the room. The whole room was filled with this awkward silence and finally Cho talked. "So Harry, who are you thinking about asking to the ball?"

Harry could see Hermione stiffen up from behind Cho, so Harry looked back at Cho emerald eyes burning into dark brown eyes. "Sorry Cho, but I was going to ask Hermione to the ball."

Cho gasped as well as Hermione. Then Cho left the room peeved off at the couple. Harry turned back to Hermione and grabbed her hands, looking down at the girl he softly spoke. "Hermione, will you be my partner to the Hallows Eve ball?"

Hermione smiled up at Harry with her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. "Yes Harry, I would love to go the ball with you."

Beaming at the girl Harry picked her up and twirled her around. "Will you also be my girlfriend?" he wondered hopefully.

"Of course, I would love to!" Hermione beamed back excitingly.

So Harry and Hermione were going together as well as Draco and Ellie, Ron and Lavender, Cody and Grace… Basically everyone is going with their husband or wife.

It was the night of the ball and Harry was nervously pacing the common room waiting for Hermione along with the rest of the dudes waiting for their wives. Harry was wearing black dress robes that he got from a shop Cody showed him and Draco down at the boardwalk. Finally after anxiously waiting Hermione appeared at the top of the stairs looking magnificent. She was wearing a silky flowy dress that was black and dark green with silver sparkles covering the whole outside. Her hair was put up in an elegant ponytail with a silver flower pin on one side of her head; she also had silver and green bangles clinging to her arm. And she also had the right amount of natural looking makeup with her lip-gloss just a little pink. Hermione descended the stairs twirling around for Harry a couple times to see her properly. "Do you like it?" she wondered.

Harry had to smack himself out of his trance. "You look beautiful." He finally stammered. Draco came up to the couple.

"Looking good Potter's." He said winking then taking the arm of Ellie who also looked elegant almost looking like a veela in her pale blue dress and her flowing blonde hair.

"Shall we go?" Harry asked taking Hermione's arm.

"We shall." She replied back.

Harry and Hermione made their way to the ballroom, to see it full of life and a little wild from one of the Weird Sisters songs. "Would you like to dance?" Harry asked shouting over the noise.

Hermione giggled. "Yes!"

Harry and Hermione danced to the next four songs then Hermione told Harry she was going to the bathroom with Ellie and Ginny so Harry walked over to the guys (Draco, Cody, Neville, and Ron) "Hermione gone to the bathroom?" Draco asked as if he already knew the answer.

"Yeah, same with you guys I'm guessing." Harry said back earning nodes from all the guys. While they waited they drank some punch and watched Fred and George host some party games that cracked the whole room up, since they got some teachers in on it.

Suddenly Ginny, Lavender, and Hannah came rushing into the room red faced and panting. "Harry! Draco! Quick, Hermione and Ellie were taken by a dark figure on our way to the bathroom, and the attacker left this in his place." Lavender handed Harry a scrap of paper and written in blood it read…

"_I warned you…"_

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**In this chapter when Harry kisses Hermione she says, thank you for the late birthday present, well according the J.K. Rowling Hermione's birthday is September 19****th**** so it makes sense since this chapter takes place in October. Also when the group is organizing the ball a couple weeks went by, incase I didn't make that clear. So please review and tell me what you think ;) Thanks! –SR7**


	16. Halloween horror part 2

**Hi, I'm back! I didn't really get any reviews last chapter, and I usually don't care how many reviews I get, but I still like to hear what people think about my story, or if you have any ideas or suggestions I would love to hear them… seriously. So this chapter I hope it gets a little better, anyway here is my next chapter. Thanks! –SR7 (P.S. I decided this chapter will be the second part of my last chapter hence the title of it.)**

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"_I warned you…"_

"What does that mean?" Draco asked sweating at the recent turn of events.

Harry, unable to move stood gawking at the note. Hermione and Ellie were taken, right under his nose. Looking up and getting into serious mode, Harry scanned the room. "Who isn't here at the ball?" he asked the clueless friends all around him.

"Um, I don't know the place is so big it's kinda hard to tell." Ginny whimpered.

"That's not good enough!" Harry snapped. Walking away unable to stand around any longer, going to the one professor he could trust Harry grabbed him by the elbow and led him out of the room.

"What is it Potter?" Snape growled. Thrusting the threatening note into the scowling professor's arms Snape read the short note and stared at Harry. "What is this? Potter you better tell me what's going on." Snape demanded shoving his finger into Harry's chest.

"A couple weeks ago I had another dream, and the voice threatened to take Hermione from me. Just a couple minutes ago Hermione went to the bathroom with a couple friends and all the friends came out scared as ever except Hermione and Ellie. They were taken by a dark hooded figure, according to Lavender." Harry explained trying to keep his cool, barely succeeding.

Snape's expression softened. "Taken? As in taken while in the school?"

"Yes Professor."

"We need to get a team to Devil's Peak now. There is no telling what this dark lord might do to the girls." Snape said not holding back.

"With professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked taking a chance on the question.

Snape glared into Harry's eyes. "No Potter, Albus has other business to attend to that involves your future. Don't disrupt him, like you already did when you were in the hospital." Snape snapped.

"What do you mean my future?" Harry demanded.

"The Prophecy with you and Voldemort!" Snape shouted totally losing it. "Don't ask any more questions." He hissed more quietly. "Get your H.A. team, and I'll get some Auror's meet us in front of the school in five minutes."

Harry nodded then fled back to the ballroom back to the traumatized group of students. "Lavender get Parvati and Blaise, tell them to meet us in front of the school. Ginny, get Fred and George do the same as Lavender. Cody, you get Seth, David, and Darrick, do the same. Alright team move!" Harry ordered getting everyone on the H.A. out of the school.

Sideling up next to Harry, Draco looked worried. "What are we doing mate? Are we attacking? Are we getting Hermione and Ellie back?" 

Taking a deep breath Harry nodded. "Yes, we are attacking. We're getting our ladies back don't worry. They would have to kill me before they lay a hand on Hermione."

"Yeah." Draco said confidently. "They would have to kill us first!"

Down at the very bottom of the steps from the school stood Snape, Goldby, and a few other Auror's including Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, and the real Mad eye Moody. Running the rest of the way down the steps Harry attacked Lupin in a big man hug. "Harry!" Lupin beamed despite the current situation. "I'm so glad your safe. Don't worry we'll get Hermione and Miss Beck back."

Letting go of Remus Harry stepped back a step. "Thank you Lupin." Slightly glancing at the other Auror's who showed up Harry noticed someone missing. "Lupin, do you know anything about Sirius, and where he is?"

Scanning his eyes around the perimeter Lupin whispered. "Don't worry about your godfather, he's safe for now. He's part of the Order of the Phoenix; he's staying at 12 Grimmauld Place. He told me as soon as I saw you to give you the message _'via flame, 12:00, Sunday night.' _He said it was pretty important."

Harry nodded. "Got it."

All of a sudden a girl with bright pink hair appeared behind Lupin. Staring at Harry she stuck out her hand. "Nymphadora Tonks." She introduced. "You must be THE Harry Potter, I've heard so much about you from Remus and Sirius these past months, it's great to finally meet you."

Shaking the girl's hand back Harry simply replied. "Nice to meet you."

Tonks smiled brightly at him. "Oh, and just for future reference call me Tonks, just Tonks. I hate the name Nymphadora so just try to stay clear of calling me that." She warned her hair turning dark red.

Harry sheepishly nodded then walked over to Snape. "Professor what's the plan?"

Snape grabbed Harry's shoulder then stared him straight in the eye with a look that meant, seriousness. "You and Draco take the H.A. around to the other side of Devil's Peak and escalate the mountain from there. I will lead the Auror's towards the front of the mountain, hoping to find a way in. If not, I think we will create a big enough distraction for the guards to be to preoccupied to guard the back entrance. Once in you must split up and try to find where Miss Granger and Miss Beck are being held, if you run into the dark lord, do not try to attack him, if you can help it. I don't want any students killed trying to do this. Do I make myself understood Potter?"

Harry agreed then went to his team. "Alright peoples here's the plan. Draco and me will lead you to the backside of Devil's Peak; there we will climb until we reach the secret back entrance. Stay together and pick a partner because once we get into the mountain we're going to have to split up to look for Hermione and Ellie, if you find them quickly get yourselves and them out. Once your out and away from danger touch this pin with your wand that way the pin will vibrate on everyone still in the mountain telling us you got out with the girls." Harry instructed passing out small red pins that everyone pinned to their cloaks.

"Is everyone ready?" Draco asked double-checking before they set off.

"No wait!" Lavender shouted. "Ginny, Parvati, Luna, and myself need to change so we're not in our dresses."

"Lavender, we don't have time for this, we're already wasting precious seconds just standing here." Draco argued, his blood temperature rising.

"Calm down Malfoy." Lavender snapped taking out her wand. With a wave around all the girls, their magnificent gowns transformed themselves into pants, shirts, converse, and a black cloak, for each one of them. "See it wasn't that bad." Lavender cooed to a very irritated Draco.

"Whatever lets just head out." Draco mumbled following Harry out towards the beach.

Snape and the Auror's mounted brooms and sped out towards Devil's Peak, zooming over the H.A.'s heads. "Come on team hurry!" Harry ordered sprinting up a hill going the diagonal direction from where the adults just went.

Not stopping till they reached the mountain the H.A. ran full speed quickly losing endurance to run anymore. "Harry eh- we need eh- to take eh- a breather." Ron gasped falling onto his hands and knees as soon as they reached the foot of the mountain.

"Yeah Potter, let us take a little break." Cody quietly said holding his throat.

Staring up at the climb ahead of them Harry reluctantly agreed. "Fine, but for only a minute." Sitting down on a rock next to Luna, Harry hung his head in pain, but the pain was not from the run they just did. It was from the mere thought of losing Hermione, which sadly came true.

"She loves you, ya know."

Lifting up his head, Harry stared at Luna. "What did you just say?"

Luna gave him a small mysterious smile. "Hermione, she loves you. Has for a long time, I can tell from her eyes whenever she looks at you. They get this softness that she gives no one else." Feeling the soft rain that began to fall Harry couldn't help but to think back on his life (at least the parts that contained Hermione in it) Harry had to admit, one of the first things he noticed about Hermione was her eyes.

"It's true mate." Fred said from behind Harry. Harry turned around to face the taller wet red head. "I can tell Hermione has liked you for a long time to. Actually George and me placed a bet when you were actually going to ask Hermione out, or ask her to be your girlfriend. I don't know if you would believe it but Professor McGonagall, Lee Jordan, and Colin Creevey won." Fred said chuckling at himself, and Harry's expression.

Coughing from behind Harry Ginny looked not happy with her hair clinging to her face and her make-up running. "Harry get us up the mountain before I go back to the school, I hate standing in the rain!" She shrieked making all the guys jump.

"Alright." Harry said calmly. "Everyone take your wands out and be on alert, you never know when someone might jump out at you." He warned seriously to the rest of the group. "Does everyone have their partner?" Harry asked.

Everyone stood next to their partner they chose. Of course Harry and Draco were partners then there was Fred and George, Cody and Seth, David and Darrick, Ron and Blaise, Lavender and Parvati, Luna and Ginny, and then Seamus, Dean, and Neville were all partners.

"Good let's head up then." Draco urged pushing Harry so he was walking up with him.

The walk up was miserable since the path, if there even was a path, was very rocky and steep, and then the rain wasn't helping the situation since it started to down pour. Everyone was tripping over their own shoes when they finally found the second entrance that was hidden behind some big boulders. Poking their heads in Harry and Draco entered the terrible cave first.

Creeping along the wall and hiding behind a boulder if they heard something Harry and Draco pressed on until they got passed the long hallway. Getting to a big half mooned room Harry and Draco crouched down. "Remember keep your wand out and watch my back while I watch your back." Harry reminded his friend in a whisper.

"Got it." Draco replied back quietly.

Then creeping along the musty smelly carpet on their stomachs Harry and Draco left the deserted room. Going down another hallway, only this one being completely made of marble, the duo slowly walked down. Hearing the sounds of people screaming and spells going off, Harry and Draco dived behind some rocks.

Draco looked at Harry from his hiding place and whispered. "Do you think it's the Auror's fighting whoever lives in this dingy place?"

Harry strained his ears to hear more. After hearing an agonizing scream and a triumphant "A-HA!" from none other than Moody, Harry knew it was them, motioning for Draco to follow him Harry crouched and walked the rest of the hallway.

When getting to the end Harry realized the battle was a lot closer than they thought because the hallway split into another hallway that the fight was currently being held in. Harry noticed that the Auror's we're all fighting hooded black figures, who seem to have been gliding instead of stepping.

Feeling the familiar push Draco made him stumble forward towards the door away from the battle. Quickly entering Harry and Draco collapsed against the wood of the door gasping for breath. Chest heaving in and out Harry tried to get his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. When he did Harry realized that he and Draco had stumbled upon the sleeping quarters of the guards. Luckily none of the guards were in the room sleeping since they were all out and about around the mountain, but something didn't sit well with Harry, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Harry." Draco said nervously.

"What?" Harry whispered harshly.

But Draco didn't answer all of a sudden he started trembling in fear, and then he pointed a shaky finger to the other side of the room. Standing in the doorway was a hooded figure, but this figure's face was not covered. Because there was a flash of light and all the duo got the see was a very white face, and a red gash cut across it. After the quick flash happened though, the figure disappeared.

Stealing a quick frightened glance with each other, the duo ran across the room towards the door the mysterious figure had just occupied. "Lumos!" Harry and Draco whispered and once carefully pushing the double doors back. Silently stalking in the duo kept their wands up. Another flash went off and this time Harry caught a glimpse of the figures cloak disappearing somewhere up above them. Looking up again adjusting his eyes to the darkness Harry noticed stairs winding around the room until it stopped at the very top where a hole in the wall was.

Harry nudged Draco's side with his elbow trying to get his attention, when he did he pointed up to where the platform was. Draco squinted his eyes to see better, and then he finally nodded after finally seeing the hole.

The steps were made of stone, so Harry took the first step on them. They didn't creek at all, but he did hear a bit of crumbling. So very carefully Harry motioned for Draco to follow him up. The trek up the stairs was slow, but they didn't care because as soon as Draco left the last step, the front of the step broke off falling onto the floor twenty feet below.

Gasping for air Draco touched his heart, and shook his head. "Mate, we need to hurry up and find Ellie and Hermione, before we both die."

"I agree." Harry said absentmindedly keeping his gaze in the hole.

Poking his wand in so there was some sort of light, the duo stepped in. Tiptoeing towards the other side of the room expecting to meet another door all the duo found was a rock wall. Shifting their wands around the small room trying to see if the figure was still there they were unfortunate to see no one else in the room. "Where'd he go?" Draco asked scanning his eyes everywhere, confused.

"He escaped." Harry spat throwing his wand to the ground and plopping himself on a rock. Harry could feel tears starting to form in his eyes. "Now what?" he mumbled sniffing back a tear.

Draco looked as confused as Harry felt. Wanting to answer Harry's question, but not finding to correct answer they both were looking for. So instead of answering him, Draco walked over to the wall on the right and leaned against it, crossing his arms and looking down. Finally there it was, right below him was a circular rock with a stone snake cut around it, and right in the middle was a small circular hole, just about the size of a wand tip. So taking a chance Draco stuck his wand in the hole. Suddenly the rock wall started to tremble and a layer of rock slid down into the floor, behind that layer was a stone door with two snake wrapped around each other.

"What just happened?" Asked Harry who just witnessed something, that came out of nowhere.

Draco was ecstatic. "Don't worry about that, let's go!" Noticing there was no door handle on the door, Draco was at a loss for words. He tried pushing it with everything he had but the door wouldn't budge.

"Let me." Harry said pushing Draco out of the way. Standing still in front of the door Harry spoke in Parsel Tongue demanding the door to open. Luckily it worked and the doors slowly opened themselves to reveal a rather large chamber with a small hole in the side of the wall leading to the outside, probably used as a quick escape route.

Draco going to inspect the hole leaned out to see where the figure might have gone while Harry walked around the room. He stopped, he couldn't be quite sure, but he could've sworn he heard a faint girlish moan. Directing his feet towards an armoire Harry cautiously opened the door to find Hermione and Ellie body binded in the small space. Ellie, despite her pale face and her ripped up clothes she looked fine. Hermione on the other hand had her eyes closed; she was pale faced, and bleeding from a gash on her head, arm, and chest.

"Draco!" Harry shouted releasing the spell off Ellie, who ran down into Draco's arms.

And then taking the spell off Hermione, the bookworm fell lifeless into his arms. Hugging her with pure happiness and a little bit of sadness Harry turned to Ellie. "What happened to her?" he desperately wanted to know.

Ellie had a look of sympathy on her face, and then clearing her throat and pushing a loose strand of her hair from her face she spoke. "When we were kidnapped, they separated us. A woman figure took me to some sort of dungeon to be whipped, while two men took Hermione to some other part of the castle. All I know is that they shouted spells at her, and harmed her. I don't know how far they went though, all I know is that I was taken up here, and thrown in a closet. Then two minutes later the two men brought Hermione up and threw her in the closet, she was already out by the time they did that. Then the men both did the body bind curse on us so we couldn't escape." Ellie was crying now, and Draco was trying to comfort her.

Harry nodded letting a tear fall onto Hermione's head. Wiping the unwanted leaks from his face Harry picked Hermione up bridal style and looked at the hole in the wall. "It's going to be to hard to get her down there, and I'm sure Ellie doesn't have that much strength. We're going to have to hitch a ride with a Auror, and quick!" Harry ordered walking back towards the door.

Draco agreed then helped Ellie down the stone steps while Harry carefully walked down without dropping Hermione. Through the sleeping quarters and back to the hall, the battle was no longer taking place there. The trio exchanged nervous glances then went down the hall to look for somebody.

Unknown to any of them an untrustworthy figure was following them in their shadows. Draco, sensing something not right whipped around and sent a freezing jinx towards the victim, blasting him full on in the chest.

All of them approached the figure, and then Draco took his hood off revealing Professor Pore. "I knew it!" Draco exclaimed. "I knew Pore was the dark lord, I knew it, knew it, knew it!"

Harry stared at the limp Pore then shook his head. "I knew Pore must have been working for him, but he is not the dark lord." Draco stared up at Harry in confusion, Harry realized this and explained. "First of all the dark lord has a bloody red gash cut across his face, Pore doesn't. Also whoever this dark lord is escaped through the hole remember?" Harry reminded Draco.

Looking disappointed Draco had to agree. "Yeah your probably right." Kicking Pore in the side Draco stalked off the other direction dragging Ellie with him.

Harry glancing one last time at Pore readjusted his hold on Hermione then followed Draco and Ellie out of the hall. It took a while but the group finally found Lupin and Tonks fighting off a couple of dark figures, finishing off them, the group approached the couple. "Lupin, Tonks. Quick, we need to borrow your brooms! We found Hermione and Ellie, but neither one of them have the strength to walk all the way back to the school." Harry said walking up to them.

"Alright guys follow us quick!" Tonks ordered following Lupin out.

Following the couple through a maze of tunnels and battling a few figures from time to time. The group finally made it out of the mountain to where the Auror's hid their brooms. Getting Hermione situated on Lupin's Nimbus 2000 with Harry sitting behind her hugging her protectively and holding the front of the broom. Draco did the same with Tonk's Comet Ellie nervously sitting in the front with Draco's arms around her holding the front of the broom from the back.

Taking his wand Lupin touched his red pin with the tip sending vibrations through to everyone. "Alright you guys had out. We'll get everyone out." Lupin said taking Tonk's hand and starting back to the entrance. Harry and Draco waved good-bye then pushed off from the ground speeding towards Duraflame. The ride was surprisingly short for a mountain far away from Duraflame but the Apache's weren't complaining.

Dismounting off the brooms Harry picked Hermione back up and sped up the steps while Draco put his arm around Ellie for support, slowly making their way up. Meanwhile with Harry, to other people he must have looked like a mess with a bloody, dirty, knocked out Hermione while Harry was damp with a mixture of sweat and rain water, along with some torn cloth from the many rocks in and out of the mountain.

Rushing towards him, McGonagall was flushed. "Potter! What in Merlins name happened here?" she asked referring to Hermione.

"Sorry professor, not now. I need to get Hermione to the hospital wing."

McGonagall nodded vigorously. "Well of course this way now." She said leading Harry to the 2nd floor.

Once they entered Harry quickly laid Hermione on a spare hospital bed, and waited for McGonagall to get Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hope. Talking vigorously to each other Pomfrey and Hope examined Hermione after a few potions and scans with their wands the healer nodded to each other then Pomfrey turned towards a very upset Harry who was holding Hermione's hand.

"The good news is Hermione is going to be alright, and awake in about a day. The bad news is we can't detect the spells used on her. We fear it's the same spells that Mr. Weasley was hit with. Also she will be exhausted, she has been through a lot that I think she should explain to you when she's ready so let her rest." Pomfrey said sympathetically and softly.

Harry thanked the two healers and his head of house who all left him alone with Hermione where he stroked her arm gently. "Don't worry Hermione, everything is going to be okay."

Harry spent the rest of the night sitting on the uncomfortable chair holding Hermione's hand dreaming and coming to the conclusion that Halloween was his LEAST favorite holiday between his parents death and Hermione's kidnapping.

The next morning Harry woke up to Madam Hope bring a tray of breakfast to him. "Here you are Mr. Potter, I'm afraid you slept through breakfast so Professor McGonagall ordered me to bring a tray to you. Also I have a message from Professor Snape for you." She said handing over the tray that had a letter on it.

Harry thanked the healer, and then when she left the room he opened the note.

_Potter,_

_Just so you know, everyone got out of Devil's Peak last night. The only injury was Moody's who jumped off a ledge onto a cloaked figure and broke is arm, also he got shot with a stunning spell in the same arm so he's at St. Mungo's getting that fixed at the moment. All of the students throughout the school are worried about what happened to Miss Granger and Miss Beck, so you and Draco, don't be surprised if a gentleman asks about them or comes up to them personally. All of the H.A. members are safe and are currently resting. Mr. Longbottom was close to being hit with a killing curse after he, Mr. Finnegan, and Mr. Thomas came across a band of cloaked figures so we sent him to St. Mungo's to see his parents, and to get away from this place for a while. An Auror should bring him back in a couple days. If you have any questions feel free to come and ask me. And please send my regards to Miss Granger and Miss Beck._

_Sincerely,_

_S. Snape_

Harry put down the letter and looked over at the sleeping figure of Hermione. 'Why was life so cruel?' He didn't really get to finish his thought because that's when Draco came storming into the room.

"Bloody bastard totally came onto Ellie! I can't believe him! I don't even know who the prat is!" Draco shouted at the top of his lungs storming up to Harry.

Blinking twice Harry said. "Draco, speak so I can understand you. What happened to Ellie, and this…prat?"

"Oh-Ho! You wouldn't believe it! At Breakfast this morning when Ellie was feeding Bella and I was holding her barf rag, this bloke apparently who goes by the name of 'Noah' came up to Ellie, and totally started flirting with her. And then he was acting all sympathetic to her! I bet they barely even know each other." Draco hissed peeved off.

Taking a look at Snape's letter Harry chuckled. "Snape said this might happen. Hermione and Ellie are very attractive girls; guys are going to try to be all over them especially after what just happened. They see it, as their chance to flirt and get closer to them, so what we have to do is keep Ellie and Hermione close to us. Not let them, you know, wander without someone we trust with them."

Draco nodded. "Alright, I hear you. Anyway I'm going to go get Ellie and Bella and go for a walk. If Hermione wakes up tell her I said 'hey'." Harry nodded back then watched Draco leave the room.

Looking back over at Hermione Harry saw her twitched her mouth and tighten her eyes up. And then she opened them by first fluttering her eyelashes trying to get used to them light surrounding the room. Harry smiled. "G'morning 'Mione."

Hermione tilted her head to face him then smiled springing up and crushing him in a bone-crushing hug. "Harry! I'm so glad to see you. What happened?" She asked quickly pulling away.

"I don't know princess, you tell me. What happened after you and Ellie were kidnapped?"

Hermione hung her head down then took a deep breath. "After we were taken to Devil's Peak two men took me away from Ellie to this chamber where they started firing shots at me with their wands. Then after a while they must have gotten bored because one of them started coming at me in a seductive way I didn't like, so even though I barely had any strength in me I kicked the man in his 'merchandise' then the other man got angry and shouted some unusual curse at me, then I blacked out." Tears started to form in the brunette's eyes. "Nothing happened I promise you!" she exclaimed attacking him in another hug.

Harry stroked her blood stained tangled hair. "Don't worry 'Mione I believe you." The couple stayed in this position for a couple minutes then Hermione pulled back.

"Do I look as bad as I think I do?" she asked lifting the tense silence that just occurred.

"Well you look a little blood stained, your face is pale, your beautiful dress is ripped beyond compare, and your eyes are a little saggy, but I still think you look beautiful." Harry said kindly making Hermione giggle and kiss him on the cheek, sweetly.

"Thanks Harry. Now help me up, and get me out of here. I need to see my baby, and I can't take being cooped up in a hospital bed." She demanded throwing back her sheets and raising a hand out to him.

Harry chuckled. "Sure princess." Picking her up Harry left the hospital wing with Hermione in his arms. Walking to the Apache common room, both Harry and Hermione got respectable nods from students and some came up to them saying how much they admired them.

When they got to Chief Wan, he didn't have Harry or Hermione say the password, he just let them in. Stepping into the common room the H.A. attacked the couple. Yes, the whole entire H.A. normally the houses wouldn't let people from other houses in their common room, but after what just happened Chief Wan let it happen. Fred and George handed baby Taylor over to a very eager Hermione then they started a party, passing out butter beers and treacle tarts to everyone, as well as cranking up some music.

Harry sat by Hermione and Ron on one of the couches. "You know Harry, I have to say I'm a little jealous. The Cortez house is a lot simpler and drab then the Apache house. I miss being in Gryffindor with you guys and the twins; it just isn't the same without you guys." Ron said a hint of jealousy and admiration in his voice.

"We miss you to Ron." Hermione replied kindly making Ron smile.

"Hermione how about you hand me Taylor for a while so you can get cleaned up a bit." Harry suggested.

Hermione reluctantly let Harry hold Taylor, but did as he said and went to get cleaned up with Ellie following closely behind her.

"This isn't over is it?" Ron asked after the girls were nowhere in sight.

Harry sighed. "Sadly, it's probably just the beginning."

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**So this chapter was a little shorter, but that's okay! I'm going to California for a week, so I won't be updating again till sometime next week. Please review this chapter and tell me if I should make a chapter of Harry and Hermione's first 'proper' date. Thanks for reading! –SR7**


	17. A night to remember

**Hey ya'll! I'm back, finally. I know, it took forever, but luckily I'm back from my vacation, and I'm ready to continue this story. If anyone is confused by this story or has any further thoughts or compliments please take the time to either review or PM me. Any way onto to this chapter! –SR7**

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Five more minutes… It was midnight and Harry paced around the empty Apache common room anxiously awaiting Sirius Black's head to pop into the fiery flames. Four more minutes… Harry checked the clock that hung above the notice board, and sighed. Three more minutes… Kneeling down inches from the flames Harry waited. Two more minutes… Taking one more quick glance at Sirius' letter, Harry stashed it away in his pocket. One more minute… Harry counted down the seconds in his head staring intently into the ashes. Then finally the face of his godfather appeared looking in better shape then the last time Harry saw him.

"Harry!" Sirius exclaimed after a brief glance at his surroundings.

"Sirius!" Harry gasped in relief. "I'm so happy to see you. What's happening? Where are you? Are you okay?" he asked getting more worried as he continued on.

"Whoa there!" Sirius exclaimed amused. "Nobody's died. But I did hear about what recently has happened. Lupin is looking after Neville Longbottom right now with Tonks; I assume you've met her already. Anyway, how are my favorite bookworm and her friend doing?" Sirius asked with a look of concern.

"Uh- Hermione is fine, and so is Ellie. They both are a little shaken up, and both have numerous amounts of cuts and bruises, but I assure you, they're both doing alright."

Sirius smirked. "Well I'm glad to hear it. So, I also hear you and Hermione are 'married' and have a baby. When do I get to meet the little pooper?" he asked.

Harry rolled is eyes then stared back at Sirius. "Her name is Taylor." He corrected. "But can we talk about my social/personal life some other time? I need to talk to you about more serious matters before I'm caught out of bed."

Sirius groaned but motioned for Harry to continue talking.

"So I've been hearing this voice, over and over again. Draco and me think its another Parsel Tongue who is going around the school undetected. We already broke into Heffner's office and foun-."

"Wait you broke into a headmaster's office? Wow, amazing. You really do have the makings of a marauder." Sirius interrupted proudly smiling from ear to ear.

"Yes I did, but as I was saying; Draco and me found some of the professors files and discovered that Professors Phoebe and Pore are Parsel Tongues, but I also checked Hawk's file, and it didn't say anything remotely close to it." Harry explained.

Sirius furrowed his eyebrows then looked at something behind him. Turning back to Harry Sirius began to whisper. "Alright listen to me Harry, you're getting yourself and the H.A. into some pretty deep water. I understand that your two main suspects are Pore and Phoebe but-."

"But that's just it. They _were_ my first two suspects, but when we all went to go rescue Hermione and Ellie that night Draco and I had a brief encounter with the dark lord. We didn't fight him, but we did see him for a second or two. He is definitely a man, so that rules Phoebe out, and then after we had the girls and we were trying to escape we blasted Pore so he couldn't be the dark lord either. And so this is where we're stuck." Harry explained cutting Sirius off in mid sentence.

Sirius nodded. "But… that also leaves Hawk." He mentioned dramatically.

Harry was heaving his chest in and out then he lowered his head thinking about Sirius' accusation. "I guess you could be right." Harry finally said. "Hawk's class, the dueling club, starts tomorrow after school maybe me and Hermione, or someone, could gather information about him. I could also ask Snape if he knows anything."

Sirius curled his mouth up tight disgusted. "Must you bring Snivellus into this?" he asked pouting and spitting below him.

Again Harry rolled his eyes. "Normally I would agree with you, but right now Snape is helping us defeat this thing so try to be nice to him for a little while, for me, please." Harry begged.

"Fine!" Sirius bellowed after a minute of begs. "I'll try not the insult Snivellus. Anyway getting back on topic, I think it's a good idea having a couple people go undercover to search for information. You should probably have a couple people in the H.A. targeted at a few suspects. I have some more information for you, by the way, about Phoebe Harris."

Harry leaned closer waiting for Sirius' speech.

"Alright, Phoebe isn't really from America. She's from Italy; she's spent years in the states learning the American way of life, and their slang language. Also Phoebe is distantly related to… Brody Hawk." Sirius whispered darkly. "Just because she might not be the dark lord, doesn't mean she's not dangerous, so watch out. All of you."

Harry nodded letting the information sink in. "So the plan is the keep an eye on Hawk, and any more suspicious people." Sirius nodded. "Great. But before you go, Sirius, what's going on over there with you?"

Sirius sighed. "I joined the Order of the Phoenix, it's an organization that's going to help defeat Voldemort. The headquarters is being held at my mother's house, God willing she'll ever rest in peace; anyway I don't want you worrying about me right now. I'm fine, I have order members in and out of this place all the time, and so I'm not always lonely. Just try to take care of yourself. I have to go, Kreacher is grumbling over in the corner so I have to go "talk" to him. Stay safe, and I promise to try to find a safe way to contact you. It seems a ministry official by the name of Umbridge has been intercepting Floo networks. I'll try to get a hold of you as soon as I can. Goodbye Harry." Sirius winked at Harry then disappeared from the burning flames.

Taking his head out of the fire and dusting ashes off his cloak Harry stood up and slowly made his way up to the dormitories.

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The next morning Harry woke up and met Hermione down in the common room fully dressed in their Apache attire. Hermione kissed Harry's cheek and then handed him baby Taylor. "She's been missing her daddy all night." She whispered softly smiling at him.

"Thanks 'Mione, listen I have something to ask you." Harry started feeling his hands sweat from his nervousness.

Hermione nodded. "What is it then?"

"Well I was wondering if you-"

"Harry!" Cody shouted from atop of the balcony. "Dude! I need to talk to you, it's important." He finished skipping steps all the way down to the main floor.

Harry sighed and excused himself from Hermione who reluctantly left the room with Draco and Ellie. "What is it Cody?" Harry asked irritated switching his hold on Taylor.

"Okay, so last night while I was serving detention with Professor Hawk I found this in his office, I thought you might be interested in it." Cody pulled out a vile of potion that was labeled '_CAMBIA VOLTO_'. "I was wondering if you knew what it meant?"

Harry unscrewed the top of the vile and smelt a whiff of the potion, keeping it away from Taylor's nose. "Hmmm, I don't know. Maybe I can ask Professor Dunn what it is after Potions today."

Nodding Cody patted Harry's shoulder and ruffled Taylor's hair then left their presence. Sighing, Harry made his way down to the Dinner Hall behind Fred and George silently listening in on their "private" business conversation.

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"And that is how you brew a mild love potion, any questions?" Dunn asked, finishing up his class. When no one raised their hand Dunn just nodded and waved his hands. "Well be gone with you then, I'll see you all Wednesday where I expect you to have a written report on the love potion we just brewed today." The class groaned but Dunn ignored it.

When everyone got up to leave the classroom Harry stayed sitting. Looking back at him Hermione spoke. "Aren't you coming Harry?"

Looking back at her, he just stared then addressed Pansy. "Pansy, can you go with Hermione to Transfiguration?" Pansy scowled at the girl but grabbed her arm and led her away.

"Was there something you needed?" Harry turned back to face Professor Dunn who was now standing before him, curiously. Snape was lurking in the back of the room placing ingredients back on shelves.

Clearing his throat Harry spoke. "Actually yes. Cody Beck found this vile somewhere, but neither of us knows what's contained in it. We were wondering if maybe you could find out?" he asked hopefully getting the attention of Snape in the background.

Dunn took the vile from Harry's hand and examined the exterior. A frantic Snape rushed up to them quickly taking the vile from Dunn's hands. "I'll take that." He drawled. "This particular potion is not found just out and about the halls of a school. How did you and Mr. Beck come across this great find?" He asked suspiciously.

Harry gulped trying to quickly think of a cover up excuse. "Um- he, uh- we found it rolled under one of the knight statues on our way over here this morning. We saw the sun reflecting off the glass so naturally it captured our attention."

Waiting for his two professor's reaction, Harry waited holding his breath. Finally Snape spoke reliving Harry's worries. "Alright then Potter, I'll just take this back into my office, to examine along with your _possessed trunk_." He stated staring deeply at Harry as he said possessed trunk. Then with one swift wave of his cloak Snape disappeared into his office.

Dunn stood there confused waiting for Harry to explain, but Harry ignored his curious professor and headed to Transfiguration. Phoebe acted normal during class, like nothing had happened a couple days ago; she also acted sweeter to the class when most of them forgot to do their assignment, something Hermione was eager to turn in.

After that everybody went onto their regular classes until it was dinner, and Harry still hadn't asked Hermione something he's been dying to ask her all day. Staring at her eating from the entrance of the dinner hall Draco hit his shoulder knocking off a layer of nervousness.

"Your going to do fine mate, she already likes you. Just ask her already." Draco urged him, while sitting down next to Seamus and Dean.

Harry took one more deep breath then sat next to Hermione. "Hey 'Mione!" he greeted. Hermione turned to him and smiled.

"Hi Harry, what's up?"

"Erm- I uh, I was wondering if you would…" Harry glanced across of him to Draco who kept mouthing for him to ask her already. "Right, well I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me. Maybe at the boardwalk on Wednesday?" Harry could feel tiny beads of sweat falling from his hairline so he casually swept it away.

Without hesitation Hermione smiled. "Of course Harry! I would love to. Was that what you were trying to ask me this morning?" She wondered.

All Harry did was nod and she got the message.

"Well thanks Harry, that means a lot I think we both need to get out of the castle and away from this drama right now." She said giving him a slight smile.

"I totally agree." Harry said back.

"Hey Ellie!" Draco said projecting his voice so most of the Dinner Hall could hear. "How would you like to go to the boardwalk with me this Wednesday? Maybe we can double with the Potter's." He said proudly winking at Harry.

Ellie sat there embarrassed. "Fine, but sit down Draco!" She whispered loudly.

Harry mouthed thanks to his friend, then went back to his meal. After dinner the fifth years went down to the murky dungeons to their first dueling club class. Hawk stood on the long stage waiting for all the fifth years to fill the room once they had he began. "I know all the Duraflame students here know how to properly duel, but you Hogwarts students will have to inform me. Have you or have you not dueled before?"

Justin Finch-Fletchy raised his hand weakly. Hawk spun around to face him. "Y-yes sir. But only once, when we had Professor Lockhart as a teacher. It didn't last long though, because Malfoy conjured a snake at Potter who talked to it, probably telling it to attack me." He spat glaring at Harry and Draco who glared menacingly back at the Hufflepuff.

The Duraflame's were quiet staring at Harry and Draco, who they thought were always friends, but clearly they weren't. Hawk rolled his eyes. "No need to blame Potter for his gift of that ability, clearly the snake didn't attack you so I would let it go before I put Potter on you." Hawk defended taking a glance at Harry; Hermione cocked her eyebrow at him and scooted closer to Harry. "Right, so if Mr. Justin is done I would like to start the class with the first duel. Mr. Beck versus Mr. Porter." Cody and a tall masculine Pueblo boy climb onto the stage, shake each other's hands, bow then take their respectable places at the ends of the stage.

Cody takes off his cloak and throws it to Grace who catches it, while (Danny) Porter removes his cloak and throws it into the crowd. Each opponent keeping their eyes locked on one other waiting for Hawk's signal. "3…2…1… DUEL!" He shouts gripping his wand tightly and getting out of the way of Cody and Danny.

Danny fires the first spell at Cody, who deflects it back at him and barely grazes his shoulder. Then Cody shouts _stupefy_ at Danny taking several steps towards him. Danny jumps out of the way. The duel went on, it got very heated, when everyone thought Cody was going to be finished after Danny blasted him with a curse, he quickly got back up and shouted "_WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!_" The spell hits Danny and pulls him up in the air, Cody kept him like that for a second struggling to get down when he breaks the spell and while Danny is still falling blasts him with a accurate _stupefy_. Danny fly's off the stage and across the room where he falls knocked out.

Hawk smiled and ran onto the stage holding Cody's arm up in triumph. "And that is how it is done. Now, who's next?" A brave Cortez student raised his hand and made his way onto the stage. Cody defeated everyone who challenged him. "Alright I do believe we have time for one more challenger before our time is up, who will like to step forward?" Hawk asked scanning the crowd for volunteers. Some people started cowering while others pretended that they didn't know what was going on, that is until Draco winked at Harry and Hermione and made his way to the stage.

Draco smirked at Cody. "I accept your challenge." Cody had the right to look frightened he was going up to Malfoy after all.

Hawk's expression was indifferent while he started the round. When both boys took their beginning stance Ron stalked over to Harry and whispered. "My money is on Malfoy." Harry shot him a 'DUH!' expression then turned back to the duel.

The duel was heated and bloody, Cody was doing a good job defending himself, but Draco kept attacking. Finally Cody started to get tired and his spell work became sloppy, so when Draco determined was the perfect time he attacked him with _"Expelliarmus" _the spell took Cody's wand and threw it in the air while Cody was flung back against the wall. Draco pumped his hands up in victory then helped Cody up. Harry could faintly hear Draco tell Cody, 'I guess it was just the snake in me.'The fifth years cheered Draco on while he soaked up all the applause.

Harry saw this as the perfect distraction, he saw Hawk staring at him and Hermione. So while the fifth years carried Draco out of the classroom, the couple slowly made their way up to Hawk.

"Your friend has mad skills Potter. Cody has never been beat in a duel before here." Harry gave Hawk a faint smile then stole a glance at Hermione.

"Professor was there something you needed from us?" Harry said nervously taking Hermione's hand behind him.

Hawk sat down on the stage then swiftly said, "yes."

"Well what is it?" Hermione bravely asked.

Hawk smiled at her then spoke. "I was wondering if maybe you two would like to join me in a monthly dinner I like to host. Only the best of the best get in. So far this year I have the least amount of Duraflame students so I decided to let some Hogwarts students join. Are you interested?" he asked slyly.

Harry and Hermione were skeptical but Harry remembered that Sirius told him he needed to spy on Hawk so Harry agreed. "We would be honored Professor."

Smiling Hawk stood back up. "Very well then, I think you two should head back up to your house before it's to late. I will send each one of you a invitation when my next dinner is being held."

Harry and Hermione thanked their Professor then quickly exited the room. They went down to the home ec room to get Taylor from the nanny then headed back up to the Apache house.

When they got in Cody was seen sulking on the bottom of the staircase while people were praising Draco. Harry and Hermione decided to go to bed early and skip the party, even after their friend's complaints. Harry fell asleep trying to block his head from the disturbing voice.

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"Well are you ready to go Harry?" Hermione asked him late that afternoon on Wednesday. They met down at the carriages that would take them down to them boardwalk. Harry stared at Hermione she was wearing jeans, a tee shirt, a black sweatshirt, and her hair was in soft curls making her hair look bouncy. Harry smiled in delight.

"Yeah, but we have to wait for Malfoy."

Hermione nodded while she flagged down a carriage that would take the four friends to the boardwalk. Harry saw Draco and Ellie coming down from the castle hand in hand and gleaming. Once everyone was in, they sat in a comfortable silence until they got to the pier.

Draco and Ellie stumbled out and headed towards the Ferris wheel while Harry took Hermione's hand and led her to a small pub. It was a little chilly out side, because of the November air, but at least it didn't snow like it would be doing back at Hogwarts, anyway Harry thought it would be nice to be somewhere warm for his date and the Silver Snitch was the perfect place to do that.

Harry ordered two butter beers and two American hamburgers that him and Hermione had grown to thoroughly enjoy. Luckily for Harry, he didn't feel nervous or uncomfortable with Hermione, he felt just perfect with her and her warm smile.

"So Harry, when did you start liking me?" Hermione wondered unable to keep in her curiosity.

Harry took a swig of his butter beer and looked up at her. "Erm- probably around the Yule Ball last year." He said quietly. "When I saw you descend the staircase I felt like you were coming to me. I forgot all about Parvati, Cho, and the fact that your date was Viktor Krum. I felt that you were mine, I couldn't keep my eyes off you the whole night." Harry confessed stupidly, and feeling really cliché.

Hermione giggled and took Harry's hands in hers. "That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you Harry." Then she leaned in and pecked him on the lips. Harry could feel his cheeks getting hot and was relived when he saw Ron walk in the pub with Lavender in tow.

"Hey guys!" Ron greeted loudly getting the attention of most of the pub. Harry knew Ron still got a little jealous when he saw Harry with Hermione, so they had to cool it down whenever he walked into the room. Ron scooted into their booth while Lavender reluctantly did shooting a look of sorry at the couple.

"Ron…" Hermione greeted through clenched teeth. "Aren't you on a date?"

Ron looked over at Lavender then back at the couple. "Sure, but I think its better we sit with friends right?" the three in question exchanged nervous glances then Lavender plucked up the nerve to say something.

"Won-Won why don't we get a seat over there and leave Harry and Hermione alone on their date." She suggested standing up and holding out her hand to him.

Ron stared at Harry and Hermione with an uneasy expression but followed Lavender to the other side of the room anyway. Hermione and Harry burst out in a silent fit of giggles, and then they finished their dinner. Then taking her hand they met up with Ellie and Draco for more rides that they did for the rest of their time, having a great time doing it to.

The group waited for a carriage to come bring them back to the school after their time at the boardwalk. Draco and Ellie decided to wait on the end of the pier while Harry and Hermione huddled over by the end of the pier so they could see if a carriage was coming or not.

"…Brody, what are you doing here?" a voice whispered somewhere where Hermione and Harry could hear but couldn't see. They followed a muffled voice towards the boards of the pier where they laid down with an ear to a crack in the wood waiting for the voices to talk.

"…Why do you think I'm here? Teachers are allowed at the boardwalk to Severus. I don't know why you think I'm up to something when I'm clearly not!" Brody Hawk whispered harshly.

"If nothing is going on, then I wonder why a non-suspicious person would be hiding underneath the pier." Snape retaliated back.

Harry could hear Hawk scoff. "Listen, I have nothing to do with Voldemort or this new dark lord. I swear to it!"

"Those are some pretty strong words Brody, I would hate for them to be used against you."

"What? Are you threatening me? Look at this…it proves that I'm not the dark lord or a death eater."

Snape was silent. "Mark my words Hawk, you are suspected. Who else would have suggested Phoebe and Pore come and work here? You do realize that none other than Potter and Malfoy caught Pore, right? The ministry will get you, just you wait." Snape spat.

Harry and Hermione could hear Snape make his way out from under the pier so the hurried up and ran back over to a lamppost where they huddled together again, catching a glimpse of a carriage, and Snape who saw them by the post looking suspicious.

Draco and Ellie ran past the greasy professor while they all piled into the carriage and Harry and Hermione told Draco and Ellie what they heard.

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A couple weeks later two barn owls swept into the dinner hall and landed in front of Harry and Hermione, carefully untying the string that held the letter to the owl's leg they removed it, instantly the birds flew away.

"What's that?" Ginny asked, curious.

Harry and Hermione looked at the front of the letter, on it, it read _To Harry, and To Hermione. From Professor Brody Hawk…_

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**I know this chapter wasn't that great, but I wanted to write a chapter for you guys since I was gone for almost two weeks. Anyway you know what to do, please review! :) Thanks! –SR7 (P.S. The HP7 movie is coming out today! Whose gonna see it? I know I am! :))**


	18. Lies? and death

**I feel horrible for not updating, and I hope you can forgive me, but honestly its hard to find time to sit at my computer, think about what I'm gonna type next, fill it all out, and get the chapter up. So finally I'm doing it. Please stay with this story! Read and review! Thanks! –SR7**

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Harry scanned the front of the parchment then read it silently to himself.

_Dear Harry Potter,_

_You are cordially invited to my monthly dinner held in the astronomy tower on the night of December 10th at midnight. Since you have received an invite you are required to dress appropriately according to tradition. We will be celebrating an early Christmas dinner for the special students in this school; since not every student is invited I suggest you keep this information to yourself. Please send your reply back with either your own owl or a school owl. Hope to see you there._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Brody Hawk_

Harry looked up from his letter where Hermione just finished reading her's. Hermione curled her lips up in a faint smile then stashed her letter away in her bag; Harry did the same and went back to his food. Both ignoring their curious friends currently staring at them with beady eyes, except for Ron who was preoccupied with his food.

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"Ugh! Taylor please be quiet. Daddy's tired." Harry groaned. It was midnight that night and Taylor was keeping him up with her constant crying. Draco and the rest of the boys finally couldn't take the noise and put an enchantment around their beds to block out the screaming. Harry could tell there were bags under his eyes and his knees trembling under him as he bounced Taylor up and down in his arms while pacing the dorm room.

After an hour Taylor finally started to settle down when Harry felt something warm slowly leak onto his hand. He sighed and removed his hand from under her then took his wand out and cleaned up the mess. "Goo, blah bleh." Taylor cooed letting herself drift off into a peaceful sleep.

Harry sighed then carefully set the young girl into her crib where she curled up into a ball clutching Harry's finger, not letting it go. Harry smiled slightly at her and tried to release her grip but she was a strong one and held on. Taylor finally let go of his finger and clutched her blanket instead, but when she did Harry couldn't help but feel sad when she did. Climbing back into his bed, Harry whispered "Good night Tay-Tay." Then he too fell into a deep sleep.

Four hours later Bella woke up and started screaming her head off. Harry groaned when no one went to her aid, so he grabbed a throw pillow and threw it at Draco, hard. Draco instantly shot up snatching his wand with wide eyes surveying the room.

"What the-?"

"Mate, get your baby." Harry groaned.

Draco looked over at Bella and threw his head back in exhaustion. "So-not-cool!" Draco seethed picking up his baby trying to calm her down.

Harry chuckled at his friend then tried to fall back asleep.

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"Why must all babies be so bloody loud?" Seamus complained accidentally sloshing his breakfast over himself. All the boys in the H.A. had their babies for the night, and every one of their babies had a fit.

"Yeah, just wait till we're married and actually have children. Diapers forever dude." David said shivering.

Harry was blankly staring into his eggs not really paying attention to anything when something thumped him on the head. "Wake up Potter! You have class in 20 minutes, and I don't want to have to deal with any of your daydreaming!" Harry turned around becoming face to face with Snape.

"Sorry professor." He mumbled.

Snape rolled his eyes then glided over to the staff table, angrier then usual.

"Hey guys!" a perky voice said behind Harry distracting him from Snape. He turned around again to see the H.A. girls all looking fresh and happy.

"Why are you lot looking so cheerful? What could you be possibly happy about?" Fred asked, the rest of the boys nodding their heads in agreement.

"What's there not to be happy about?" Parvati asked.

Fred glared at the girl then went back to his breakfast irritated. Hermione walked over and sat next to Harry. "What's wrong Harry?" she asked softly rubbing his back.

Harry sighed then looked directly at the girl. "The babies kept us up all night." He said simply.

Hermione looked confused. "What? Do you mean to tell me every single guy here, fifth year and up, is complaining about the same thing?"

Harry scanned the Dinner hall, and sure enough all the guys fifth year and up looked totally tuckered out acting tired and grumpy.

"Hey peoples, how ya doing?" Harry and Hermione looked up to see Ron practically skipping towards the table, a smile plastered on his face. The H.A. glared at him menacingly. Ron looked a little taken aback and shuffled over to Harry and Hermione. "What up with the grumpy bunch?"

Harry stared at Ron with astonishment. "Did Devon seriously not keep you up all night?"

"Well, no. He slept like a rock the whole night." Harry found this strange, and couldn't hold himself back to ask.

"How was Devon the only baby who didn't throw a temper tantrum at all in this entire school." Ron shrugged then leaned closer to the couple.

"I have some great news!" he whispered laughed. "I was invited to Professor Hawk's dinner! I'm _never_ invited to this stuff." He squealed quietly.

Harry and Hermione gave Ron two fake smiles then decided to head to Herbology to avoid anymore of Ron's excitement. "Harry?"

Harry looked down at his girlfriend walking next to him. "What, Mione?"

"I was wondering if maybe you would like to come with me and Neville to see Headmaster Heffner. I have some questions I want to ask him, and I think you should be there when I do ask him, you know part of the whole spying on the professors scheme."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. "You suspect Heffner?"

"No, but I think he maybe has some answers that I'm looking for."

Harry stared straight ahead of him then nodded. "Of course 'Mione."

They continued onto their regular classes when 5:00 rolled around Harry handed Hermione baby Taylor to take care of while Draco, Cody, and himself left for their Quidditch practice.

"POTTER! BECK! MALFOY! GET YOUR BUTTS ON THE FIELD, YOU'RE LATE!" Coach Cliff shouted hands on his hips.

"SORRY COACH!" Cody shouted back, from the entrance of the tunnel.

The trio mounted their brooms then sped up in the air where the rest of the team was, waiting for further instruction. Cliff looked pissed, at the tardiness of his team, so he decided to take his anger out on them. "ALL RIGHT TEAM, TODAY WE WILL BE DOING DRILLS, BUT NOT YOUR AVERAGE EVERYDAY FLYING DRILLS. NOOOOO, YOU WILL BE DOING PHYSICAL ON THE GROUND DRILLS! NOW GET DOWN THERE!" Cliff demanded.

The team groaned but obeyed their coach, once on the ground the team deposited their brooms in a pile while the team captain (Cody) led them in running, sprinting, weight lifting, push ups, and a whole bunch of other vigorous work out.

**~*~*~* Angelina's P.O.V. ~*~*~***

"Coach, can I please get ice for my knee?" I begged clutching my bruised kneecap while panting. Cody wasn't making this work out easy, and everyone was ready to pass out.

"Fine! But I want you back out there Johnson!" Sighing, I limped over to the icebox and took out an ice pack and wrapped it around my knee. While waiting for the pain in my knee to go away I saw Professor Dumbledore approach Coach Cliff, so I strained my ears to listen to their conversation.

"Cliff, may I have a word with you?" Dumbledore asked the man.

"Yes. What is it Albus, sir?"

"I was wondering if you heard anything from the ministry? I believe Fudge is trying to send one of his employees to work here."

I saw Cliff look behind him then started to whisper. "Yes, it's true. I believe he is trying to send Dolores Umbridge. I hear she is a vile woman, with a disgusting personality. I'd watch out if I were you Albus. You might get stuck with her."

Dumbledore sighed. "Umbridge… she is quite a woman, one that no one wants to meet. Anyway have you heard anything from Arthur Weasley yet? He is looking after _you-know-what _after all. Has he filed a report yet?"

Cliff shook his head. "Shacklebolt told me that Arthur was taking a break, he is visiting his son in Romania. They sent Malfoy to look after it. Personally I don't know how he is going to do it. Everyone thinks he's a death eater-"

"And that is how it's supposed to be Cliff. I believe Lucius will do an admirable job, one that will make both us happy, and 'Voldemort' you know the fake information." Dumbledore commented.

"Fine, I believe you Albus, but I think we should talk about this later. Practice is about to end."

"Very well Cliff. Meet me in my office tonight at 10." Coach Cliff nodded, then Dumbledore turned around to exit the pitch. Unluckily for me though he caught me staring, but he winked back. I found this odd, there is only one person I know who is close to Dumbledore, who I'm going to have to talk to. Tonight.

**~*~*~* Harry's P.O.V. ~*~*~***

"Please Cody, stop the madness!" A tired sixth year begged. Cody just made the team run four miles around the school. Angelina tripped and had to go back because of a knee injury but the rest of the team had to continue one.

"Oh, come one team! Exercise is good for you!" Cody exclaimed, equally as tired as the rest of the team.

"All I know is, I'm going to be sore for the rest of my life!" George complained collapsing on the grass with Fred, Draco, and Harry. "Don't expect me to be energetic for the next match!"

"How was practice team?" Cliff asked walking up to us with a limping Angelina following behind.

"Torture!"

"Horrible!"

"Agonizing!"

"Bleh!" was all Fred could muster out.

"Good! That should teach you all to never be late to practice again. Remember we have another practice tomorrow then a game Saturday night. Be there. Practice dismissed." Cliff ordered leaving the field in a rush.

"Remind me to kill Cody later." Draco whispered to Harry as they headed back to the castle.

Harry nodded then heard his name being called from behind him. "Harry!" Angelina called, while limping towards him.

Draco cast a glance at Harry then they both waited for Angelina to catch up to them. "What is it Angelina?"

She took a deep breath then started talking. "Harry, your close to Dumbledore right?"

"Well I thought I was, but this year he's been kinda private."

"Well that's to bad. I just heard a conversation between him and coach Cliff, it sounds important. I just thought that maybe you would know about it." Angelina said sighing.

Draco cocked his eyebrow. "You mean like Voldemort important?" he asked.

"Sort of, he did say something about Voldemort, um- I don't want to talk about it here. There's too many people, too many ears, too many witnesses." Angelina mentioned a little scared.

Harry cast a look at Draco who nodded. Then he turned back to the older girl. "We have the perfect place where we can talk in private. And when we mean perfect, we mean its perfect."

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"Team, meet our new recruit Angelina Johnson!" Harry greeted. Draco sent a message on one of the magic coins that Hermione made, for everyone to meet up in the H.Q.

"Can we trust her?" asked Blaise concerned.

"Hey! That's my wife your talking 'bout there." George scolded whacking Blaise on the back of the head.

"Sorry! I just want to know that she won't rat us out and ruin the whole operation." Blaise defended.

"We let you in didn't we." Lavender spat flatly. Blaise stuck his tongue out at her, and she did the same back.

"Don't worry! She has information for us. It might not be exactly about the new dark lord, but personally I think it could relate to it somehow. Plus we're always looking for more recruits." Harry said raising his voice over Lavender and Blaise. The two of them immediately quieted down.

"Well what's up Angelina?" Dean asked.

Angelina took the guest seat next to Harry and Hermione then explained as much as she could. "Well first off, when I injured my knee Coach Cliff told me to ice it so when I sat down to do just that, Dumbledore walked onto the field. I tried to listen in on their conversation I heard them talking about this Umbridge woman, and how Fudge is trying to get her to work at Hogwarts, according to Cliff and Dumbledore she's vile and disgusting." Angelina took a deep breath then Ron spoke up.

"I think I've heard of her. She basically worships Fudge; she would do anything for him. Dad say's she also hates muggle borns she gives them the toughest time at the ministry."

"Typical purebloods." Hermione muttered under her breath.

"Right." Angelina said referring to Ron's comment. "Anyway they also said something about Mr. Weasley." Ginny, Ron, Fred, and George's ears all perked up. "Dumbledore said he was supposed to be guarding something in one of the wings at the ministry, but left his post to visit his son in Romania. Shacklebolt told Dumbledore that Lucius Malfoy was left in charge of guarding it." Angelina's head turned to Draco. "Malfoy, is your dad a death eater or not?"

Draco kept his head down, Harry knew that the Malfoy work was private, but considering the circumstances the H.A. needed to know. "No." Draco finally said. "My family are spies working for both Dumbledore and Voldemort. Back at Hogwarts when Dumbledore called me and Harry into his office, I had the choice to leave my post as an under cover agent or continue watching Voldemort, becoming a death eater in the process. I didn't want to do that so Voldemort is probably just as much after me as he's after Harry."

Angelina gasped but didn't pressure him with any more questions. "I'm sorry Mal- I mean Draco."

Draco smirked and then dismissed the slip up. "Please continue Johnson."

"Alright then, anyway apparently whatever Malfoy is guarding. Voldemort wants it. Dumbledore didn't say what was being guarded, but it's supposed to concern Voldemort somehow."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Seth interrupted. "How is Cliff involved with the British ministry? He's worked here at Duraflame since he graduated from here. Why would Dumbledore talk to him about something this serious? And by the looks of it, it sounds like Cliff knows quite a bit of what's happening over across the pond."

Angelina shrugged. "I don't know maybe he could be another one of Dumbledore's spies."

"She's right." Neville said for the first time since the meeting started.

"What?" Seth asked.

"When I was visiting my parents a few days ago I could tell by the looks of everyone, that their scared. Voldemort has brought down another reign of terror since we left Hogwarts. I spoke with professor Lupin, and he says Voldemort sees this as an advantage for him. The great Harry Potter is not in Europe, neither is the powerful Dumbledore. People are scared, with Voldemort, and this new dark lord that everyone just found out about. We need to create an army, and that's what Dumbledore is trying to do. If he can he will try to get as many people from as many countries to try to help him. And I think we need to help. I don't want to play sideline anymore. I want to kill these two evil doers once and for all, and I will." Neville explained darkly.

"Listen Neville, we get it, but what is there for a couple of teenagers to do?" Ginny said. "Everyone in this room is our army. We're not strong enough yet! We need to take down _two_ dark lords. It's not easy. Remember how long it took for the first fall of Voldemort? And that was only because of Harry. I think we all need to remember that this isn't some game we're playing. This is a real life or death situation. And if anyone forgets that, just look at Harry's scar. That should be a reminder in itself." Ginny proclaimed sternly.

The room was silent, all taking in what was just said. Then Luna spoke up. "Hope."

"What?" George asked.

"Hope." She said simply.

The H.A. all exchanged curious glances with each other. "Sorry Luna, but we don't get what you're trying to say." Harry said looking at the silvery eyes she possessed.

"Hope. We need hope to defeat both Voldemort and Lucifer." Luna said in a dreamy voice.

"Who is _Lucifer_?" Dean asked.

Luna smiled at him then answered. "I named the dark lord that. I've always found that name haunting and evil to me. So I named him that, that way we don't always have to call him, 'the dark lord'."

Harry nodded. "Okay, he's named Lucifer now, but I'm still iffy on the hope thing you were talking about.

Sighing Luna kept her same dreamy expression. "Harry, I agree with Neville." The H.A. looked between the petite blonde and the awkward brunette. "I don't want to sit here and watch a battle take place before me without me in it. I need to fight for Hogwarts, for the people, for my mum." Harry's expression softened at the mention of Luna's mum. "I want to create an army. I want to fight in it. And I want to defeat Voldemort and Lucifer once and for all!"

"Testify!" Fred and George yelled while raising their wands.

The H.A. then turned their attention towards Harry waiting for an answer. Harry looked at Hermione who gave a slight nod to him. "Listen! I know you guys want to fight, but I don't want to lose any of you! The fight between me and Voldemort is still being planned, and I-"

"Then what's the point of this team?" Draco shouted. "What's the point of this team if we can't do anything? Harry, Dumbledore chose us to lead an army for Hogwarts victory. He didn't mean for us to do what we've been doing, sitting around gathering useless information! I don't know about you Potter, but I'm going to fight. And we're gonna win!" Draco was standing over Harry now, his veins popping out of his neck, and his face getting red.

Harry pushed Draco lightly on the stomach so he would sit down, then he turned to the rest of the group, and spoke softly. "Would all of you really risk your life for this? Are you all really willing to go into battle? Because if you aren't I want you out of this tree house. Now!" he spoke deadly almost feeling the venom drip off his tongue.

The H.A. sat quietly almost afraid to move, when Harry thought he made his point clear Ron stood up and left the room without a word. Ginny and Hermione gasped, while Harry saw Draco and Blaise clutch their fists angrily. "Git!" Seamus bellowed.

"Calm down Seamus! All of you calm down!" Harry yelled. "I'm going to go talk to him, Draco you can take it from here." Draco nodded, and then Harry left the room as well.

Harry climbed down the ladder where he found Ron sitting on the cushions tears rolling down his pale face. "I'm sorry Harry." He barely whispered.

Looking down at him Harry joined him on the cushion next to him. They sat in silence then Harry felt the need to speak. "Why? After all we've been through, why back down now?"

Ron frowned and let another tear fall. "I'm scared. I don't want to fight, I know I'm acting like a coward, but it's whom I am! I feel horrible to betray your trust, but I can't do this anymore!"

Harry stared at his friend with sympathy. "Don't ever say you're a coward. Your not one, you stuck with me through the whole sorcerers stone catastrophe. You stood up to Aragog, kinda, in second year. You've stood up to Hermione's wrath since first year. You've helped me through so much over the years."

"Thanks Harry, but unfortunately my faults stand out more then my greatness. Please forgive me Harry, but I would like to resign from Hogwarts Army." Ron said making his voice deeper.

"You know this could hurt us. You leaving. I really want you to stay." Harry said sincerely.

"I know Harry, but I can't make myself do something it really does not want to do. Goodbye. Oh, and tell Lavender I said goodbye to." Ron said getting up and making his way to the window.

Harry sat there confused. "Goodbye? What do you mean Goodbye?"

Ron turned back around to face his friend. "I'm going back to London on the 11th. I just thought that this was the perfect time to say goodbye."

"Why are you going back to London?" Harry asked also standing up and walking closer to where Ron stood.

"I'm going back to my mum, for a month or two. She's getting older, and with dad gone, and all her kids gone. She's probably feeling lonely, I need to make sure she's alright."

"Oh, okay. See you at Hawks dinner party then?"

"Yeah, see you then." Ron waved a simple wave to Harry then exited the H.Q. for the last time.

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"He is the biggest liar I have ever met!" Hermione screamed the next morning after Harry told her what Ron had told him. "He led us on! I bet he knew he was going to leave the whole time! Ugh! He makes me so mad!"

"I totally agree!" Draco screamed back. He and Hermione were both pacing the common room while Harry sat on the couch holding Taylor's ears shut from all the noise. "I bet Gavin told him to do this! I bet he wasn't even really on our side!"

"UGH!" Hermione and Draco both groaned flaying their arms up in the air.

"Shut up!" Harry yelled. Hermione and Draco both stopped and turned towards Harry. "Listen will you two stop saying this about Ron? I believe him, he's scared, and I said if anyone was to scared to fight they should leave, and Ron did, you know he had a lot of courage to stand up and walk out of the room. You at least have to give him props for that." Harry explained more quietly.

Draco rolled his eyes then stomped off to the library while Hermione sighed and took a seat next to Harry on the couch. "I'm sorry Harry." She apologized softly stroking Taylor's little arm.

"It's okay 'Mione, I totally understand why your upset." Harry said looking into her chocolate brown eyes.

"I don't want you to die." She said even more softly.

Harry cocked his eyebrow. "Is this what it's about? You're scared I'm going to die?"

Hermione started to cry. "Yes!" She lost it; she started bawling into Harry's shoulder.

Harry set Taylor down on the ground then wrapped his arms around Hermione. "Shhhh Hermione. It's going to be okay, I'm not going to die." He kissed the top of her head, and then stared at the fire. Hermione finally calming down hugged Harry even tighter and fell asleep in his arms.

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"Here we go." Harry sighed as he clutched Hermione's hand and led her into the Astronomy tower. The Astronomy Tower looked very peaceful with its candles and décor. In the middle of the room Hawk set up a big round table with numerous amounts of chairs, and delicious looking food.

"Potter, Granger!" I'm so glad you could join us, please, sit down!" Hawk greeted pointing to two chairs next to each other between Neville and…Gavin. Being the protective person he is Harry took the seat next to Gavin while Hermione sat with Neville on her left.

Harry could see Auror Blake lurking around in the shadows behind Gavin, so he didn't think Gavin would pull anything, but its better to be safe then sorry, so he placed his wand underneath his left thigh incase of emergency.

"I'm glad all of you made it tonight!" Hawk exclaimed holding up his glass. "To Duraflame!"

"To Duraflame!" the students repeated. Then everyone took a sip. Harry could see Ron besides Hawk looking glum, but Hawk kind of distracted the attention Ron would have gotten if Hawk weren't there.

Harry and Hermione exchanged uneasy glances then Harry took Hermione's right hand underneath the table. Then Hermione leaned across Neville to face a seventh year Serra student. "Why is Hawk acting all ditzy?" she wondered.

The seventh year leaned back and whispered. "Hawk usually gets drunk before these dinners, but you don't want to mess with him when he gets drunk." Harry looked back at Hawk who was currently having a staring contest with Ron, who didn't know what he was doing so whenever Ron blinked Hawk would erupt in a fit of giggles, like an idiot.

"Note taken!" Harry whispered back.

The rest of the dinner was pretty uneventful; it was just talking about school. Something Harry was finding a hard time staying awake for. Then Dumbledore burst through the doors with such force Hawk was caught off guard and fell backwards off his chair.

"Potter! Granger! Longbottom! Weasley! Come with me now!" Dumbledore shouted anger rising to his eyes.

"What did we do Professor?" Hermione asked anxiously trying to keep up with Dumbledore's fast pace along with Harry, Neville, and Ron.

Dumbledore didn't answer, but led them into his office where Lavender was crying, and Draco standing over her with fear in his eyes. And then below laid little Devon, dead…

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**Awwww, little Devon! Trust me I didn't want to do that but I'll explain why I did in the next chapter. What's up with Ron? If you think you know, leave your answer in a review. I would love to hear what you think. Thanks for reading, and again sorry about the delay! –SR7**


	19. Goodbye Ron, Hello Hagrid!

**Hiya! Here is my next chapter (hehe). Thanks for those of you who reviewed; it really inspired me to keep writing. And also thank you for your thoughts on Ron… I have to say I liked what you guys were thinking, but one of them was the closest to what **_**I**_** was thinking, so please continue reading to find out what happens. :) Thanks! –SR7**

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"What the fudge?" Ron asked hesitantly as he laid eyes on his dead son currently being held by a mourning Lavender.

"Oh my gosh!" Hermione gasped kneeling down in front of Lavender with her hands over her mouth.

"Wh-what h-happened?" Harry stuttered shocked at seeing a baby dead.

Dumbledore wouldn't look at Harry but instead answered Harry's question as if Hermione and Ron asked it. "Miss Brown found Devon dead in his crib tonight. Apparently his chest was glowing a faint blue color. I have Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape looking into this right now."

"Did he die on his own account, or was he murdered?" Harry wondered moving to stand by a frozen Draco.

Again Dumbledore would not look at Harry and pretended Hermione and Ron asked his question. "He could not have died by himself, these babies are meant to last the whole school year, and they're not exactly like normal real babies. Therefore the only way he could die is by murder."

"WAAAAHHH!" Lavender wailed throwing her head back.

"Shhhh, Lavender it's going to be alright, please calm down." Ron tried to say doing his best to make the words sound comforting.

"Shut up Weasley!" Lavender shot back at him. Fire and intensity was growing in her eyes.

"What?" Ron squeaked.

"My son just died and your acting like you don't even care! I think you need to bring your head out of the clouds and realize what's been happening here! And stop being such an a**hole!" Whoa, Harry hadn't heard Lavender be so scary before, especially at Ron. After she said her small speech she seemed pretty pleased with herself at the shocked look of Ron.

"Lavender I-" Ron started before he was cut off by Hermione.

"Ron, I think you've said enough. Professor Dumbledore, may I take Lavender back to the Serra room?"

"Yes, Miss Granger." Hermione thanked the headmaster then made Lavender set Devon down so she could take Lavender back to her room. None of the boys spoke till after they were out of sight.

"Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore started. "How is the H.A. coming along? Any problems? Questions? Leads I should know about?"

Draco glanced at Harry then turned back to Dumbledore. "Um we're doing fine, I guess, our team finally came to some realizations that we can work with, and we're making a plan with it. Hopefully it will prove useful." Draco seemed awkward explaining this, probably because he expected Dumbledore to ask Harry this.

"Good, well I'm here if you need any help." The professor said sitting down in his chair.

Then the old man turned to a moping Ron. "And you Mr. Weasley, it has come to my understanding that you quit the H.A. and is moving back with your mother for the rest of the school year."

"Y-yes sir." Ron stammered.

"Well I have to say, you will be greatly missed especially leaving at a time like this." Dumbledore added knowingly.

Ron looked ashamed but spoke up. "Please forgive me professor, but for some reason I feel I have to go back to London. Something in my body is pushing me back, and I can't ignore it. Otherwise I would gladly stay here in California, and look after Lavender. Oh, and help with the H.A. of course." Ron added eyeing his two suspicious friends.

Dumbledore tapped his fingers on his desk a couple times then sighed. "Very well then Mr. Weasley. Please return to your common room as well as your friends." Then Dumbledore got up, grabbed his wand and flicked the door open for the three boys to leave out of.

There was an awkward silence as the three boys made there way through the corridors, the whole time Harry was thinking about possible things that could be sending Ron back to the Burrow. Was it fear? Was it Lavender? Was it Hermione? Oh please God not Hermione! He thought scrunching his face up tight.

"Harry?"

Harry looked up to see Draco's concerned face looking at him. Ron was no longer walking with them. He probably took a different corridor to his house. Harry thought. "Sorry." Harry mumbled bringing his eyes back to his feet. Draco didn't say anything more.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as Harry and Draco entered the Apache common room.

"What 'Mione?" Harry wondered going up to her and letting her lead him towards a vacant corner of the room, Draco following behind them curiously.

Hermione sat down in a chair while the boys took the loveseat, awkwardly. "What do you want Hermione?" Draco groaned.

Hermione craned her neck so she could look behind them, then she leaned in and started to whisper. "I think I might have a answer to why Ron's leaving."

"What!" Harry and Draco whispered shocked. "Already?"

She nodded her head then continued. "It was something Draco said a couple days ago." Draco looked shocked and listened intently. "While me and Draco were pacing the common room, being all peeved off by Ron, he said something that I took into consideration."

"And what would that be?" Draco asked, clueless.

"You said something about Gavin doing something to Ron." Harry raised his eyebrows.

"And again what did I say exactly?" Draco asked, still clueless.

Hermione rolled her eyes then continued. "When you said that, I started to do a bit of research in the library and found a article in a old clipping of the American newspaper _The Daily Owl._ In the article it said that Rupert Hawk used the Imperius curse to control Melinda Wolf into doing whatever he wanted. Apparently he was caught and thrown into Azkaban months after he started it."

Harry stared at his girlfriend then spoke. "Do you think Rupert Hawk is related to Brody Hawk? And do you think Melinda Wolf is somehow related to the American minister?"

"I thought about that Harry, but honestly I haven't looked into it. But if Gavin is working for the dark lord and if Hawk is the dark lord, he could have told Gavin to use the curse on him, you know to help them, since Ron wouldn't join them otherwise."

"Oh, that makes sense. If Hawk could have someone working on the inside he would always know our next move." Draco said.

"Technically yes, that's true, but I don't think that's why he's using Ron." Hermione stated matter-'o-factly.

"Oh." Draco murmured.

"Then what do you think 'Mione?" Harry asked.

"_I _think since Ron knows stuff about the dark lord, Lucifer is trying to take him away from us so Ron won't help us win this war. I think he made Gavin give Ron a potion or did a Imperius curse on him so he would want to leave." Hermione stopped talking then stared at the boys, but then she gasped.

"What?" Draco and Harry asked, alarmed.

"I just thought of something. Lucifer and Gavin couldn't make Ron leave if he had something he cared deeply about here." Draco and Harry nodded not completely understanding. "So Lucifer went straight to the source. Ron isn't in a relationship with Lavender so she can't mean _that_ much to him. Harry, you and I aren't that close with him anymore, so he doesn't necessarily have us. He doesn't do that great in school so he doesn't care about grades _that_ much. The only thing that kept Ron civil was Devon."

Harry's eyes went wide. "So now that Devon's dead, Ron has no reason to stay here. He would not be leaving anything behind. Sending Ron away would be huge according to Lucifer, and now that Devon's no longer with us Ron can go away free."

"Bingo!" Hermione exclaimed hugging Harry.

"Ahem!" Draco sounded breaking them apart.

Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes then Hermione spoke. "Alright guys you two should get some sleep. Harry, I'll take Taylor tonight. You could use your rest for tomorrows game."

"Thanks 'Mione!" Harry thanked smiling at her and leading her over to where Ellie and the twins were playing with the babies.

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"GOOD EVENING YOU QUIDDITCH CRAZED FANS AND WELCOME TO THE FIRST APACHE VERSUS PUEBLO GAME OF THE SEASON! TO MY RIGHT THE PUEBLOS ARE MAKING THEIR ENTRANCE." Seth shouted in the microphone over the crowd pumping them up for the game. "AND TO MY LEFT HERE COMES THE ONE AND ONLY APACHE TEAM!" he shouted a little to loudly causing Professor Hawk to whack him on the back of his head. "OUCH! Watch it professor!" he stated glaring at Hawk who returned the glare.

"So Harry are you ready for this game?" Cody asked jogging up to Harry with his broom in tow.

"Yeah, thanks mate." Harry said back rubbing his hands together then mounting his broom.

"Good, well I have some pointers I need to tell 'ya." Cody whispered putting his arm around Harry's shoulders. "You see number 8 on the Pueblo team?"

Harry squinted his eyes until he finally saw the big black man Cody was referring to. "Yeah, what about him?"

"Well let's just say he doesn't play very clean. He's a beater and is known for aiming his hits towards the opponent's seeker. I hear you've taken some pretty gnarly hits, but I want you to watch out for him. Joe is a very big man, and I don't want to lose my best seeker yet." Harry nodded and took one more glance at the big menacing black man. "Oh, and dude, I also want you to watch out for their seeker. Number 10, his name is Micah. He might be short but he's good. Now he doesn't have a Firebolt like you have, but he can shred his Nimbus 2000. Got it?" Cody asked.

"Yeah, no problem." Harry said confidently.

"Great, well go and take your position!" Cody exclaimed smacking his shoulder and then flying up to his goal post.

"THIS IS IT! THE PLAYERS ARE IN THEIR POSITIONS. MADAM HOOTCH WILL RELEASE THE BALLS NOW!" Seth exclaimed excitingly leaning over the bar with his microphone.

"I want a nice clean match!" Madam Hooch yelled from the ground. Harry gripped his handle tightly then waited for her to throw the Quaffle up. "And go!" she yelled releasing the big red ball.

"AND THE GAME BEGINS!" Seth yelled. "ANGELINA JOHNSON STARTS WITH THE QUAFFLE FOR APACHE. MAN SHE IS TEARING UP THE FIELD, NEVER IN ALL MY YEARS OF COMMENTORING HAVE I EVER SEEN A SIXTH YEAR LONDON GIRL DO THAT! WOAH!" Seth gushed. "AAAAND… SHE SCORES, TEN POINTS FOR APACHE!" the Apache crowd screams in delight with a few Cortez and Serra students, while the Pueblos clap politely.

"Never underestimate a London girl Geyser!" Angelina shouted as she circled around the pitch in a victory lap. Seth looked taken aback, no one had called him by his last name besides the teachers, but then again, he also looked impressed.

The game went back into motion, a half an hour went by and the score was 70-40. Harry had his eyes glued to his surroundings, already twice Joe aimed his hit towards him, but luckily Harry saw it coming and he dodged it. Harry was also trying to block out Coach Cliff screams at the team from down below the field, who was also arguing with the Pueblo coach, Coach Antonio.

"Harry the snitch!" He could hear Fred yell over his thoughts. He immediately went back to the game and saw Micah going after the snitch.

Racing through the players and dodging all the bludgers Harry was neck and neck with Micah. The snitch was not making it easy on either one of them, for it kept weaving through the other players and a couple times going through the fans.

"THE SNITCH IS DEFINETLY BEING EVIL TODAY!" Seth shouted. "COME ON HARRY! Sorry Professor. ANYWAY MICAH LOOKS LIKE HE'S GONNA GET IT, AND HE… LOST IT (thank goodness…sorry professor) HARRY NOW HAS A HEAD START ON THE SNITCH HE'S COMING ON IT CLOSER, CLOSER, CLOSER AND ITS GOOD! HARRY CAUGHT THE SNITCH AND WON THE GAME! THIS IS INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, AWESOME, TOTALLY RAD!" Seth exclaimed overly excited in the microphone earning loud cheers from the students.

Harry kept the golden snitch clutched in his hand not letting go. He descended down to the field where the team hugged him and congratulated him repeatedly. Hermione came down from the stands with Taylor and attacked him in a hug, which he returned earnestly. "Amazing job Harry." She whispered in his ear.

Harry smiled at his girls then was attacked from behind. "Harry! That was kick butt! Party in the common room tonight!" Cody exclaimed while the Apache's cheered.

"Awesome job mate!" Draco congratulated next pushing Cody away.

"Thanks mate, and I'm sorry you didn't get to play." Harry said sincerely.

"Nah! It's fine. The only way I'm going to play is if Cody is either sick or hurt, or 'unable to make it' so I rather not play then have him be hurt." Draco said shrugging it off.

"That's a good way to put it." Harry said punching Draco lightly on the shoulder.

Draco chuckled then Harry, Hermione, Draco, Ellie, and Cody made their way back to the castle.

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Harry could feel the awkwardness in the air as Ron said his goodbyes to people. Everyone was trying to be polite and say goodbye back, but some people refused to such as Fred, George, and Ginny. They were peeved off that Ron was just leaving without a proper explanation. Even Lavender, who hated his guts two days before, gave Ron a tearful goodbye crying into his neck as she hugged him. Draco, Harry, and Hermione stood side-by-side waiting for Ron to come to them. Finally when he did he gave a quick hug to Draco then turned to his former best friends.

"So I guess this is it." Ron said awkwardly bringing his hands behind his back.

"Yeah, it is. Good luck out there mate, wish you would stay here with us, but apparently it's not our decision whether you leave or not." Harry said back glumly.

Ron nodded then Harry and Ron hugged. Then Ron turned to Hermione. "I'll miss you." He said quietly.

Hermione stared blankly at him scowling. "Oh, I'm sure you will."

"Look, Hermy." Ron started missing Hermione's death glare. "I'm sorry about this year. I made it really hard on you and if I kept going at the rate I was going I would have messed up yours and Harry's relationship also I want to apologize for being such a butt this year and all the years before that, to you."

Hermione let a small silver tear fall from her cheek as she gave him a small hug. "You'll be back, won't you?"

Ron shrugged. "I dunno."

"Weasley! Lets go! I don't have all bloody day!" Moody yelled from the main gate.

"Well bye." Ron said awkwardly, waving at the Hogwarts students as he slowly walked over to Moody. Once he got there Harry could see Ron look back over to them, and give them a small smile. Then Moody brought him out of the school's property and apparated away, back to London.

Once he was out of sight the Hogwarts students slowly made their way through the courtyard back to the school. Harry and Draco had to help Lavender walk since she was crying too much. "Hey Blaise!" Draco yelled over the crowd to his friend.

"Wha-?" Blaise asked blankly walking over to them.

"Take gah- Lavender back to the Serra common room, would ya?" Draco gasped as Harry put all Lavender's weight over on him. Blaise nodded then picked Lavender up bridal style.

"So, what are we going to do now Ron's gone? I mean, now we're a person short." Hermione stated as the trio made their way to the library.

"Yeah we are. But now we're going to have to work extra hard to get recruits on our team, while we spy, and prepare for a war." Harry said plopping his book bag down on a table.

"Well maybe we can split up people. We can have a team spy on Hawk, Phoebe, and whoever else while we have another team look for good recruits. Then we have another team plan strategies for the war." Draco suggested smartly.

"I like it." Harry said. "And maybe the three of us can be the team leader of each group."

"I'll do war strategies." Hermione piped in. "I'm better at the strategy stuff any way."

"Okay good, I'll get recruits." Harry said eying his two best friends. "I'm already a person who the professors know to look out for, so I probably will fail at the spying. Plus Draco, you might be the best at it."

"I was thinking just the same thing." Draco said smiling. "And I can also take notes if I see anything worth knowing about."

"Alright, now who will we have on our teams?" Harry asked grabbing a piece of spare parchment and a quill pen.

_Harry's team: Fred, George, Parvati, Angelina, Seamus, and Cody_

_Hermione's team: Ginny, Neville, Lavender, David, Darrick, and Dean_

_Draco's team: Seth, Ellie, and Luna_

"These seem like pretty decent teams." Hermione said scanning the list over.

"Speak for yourself!" Draco yelled earning a 'shush' from the librarian. "My team only has three people." He said more quietly.

"Well, that's my job." Harry whispered. "I'm getting more recruits, so your team will fill up eventually. Don't worry."

"Humph." Draco sounded.

Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes as they went back to their homework.

The trio had another meeting that night with the H.A. and they told them about their 'teams' plan. Luckily everyone accepted the teams and all agreed they would start their jobs the very next day.

"Harry do you mind taking Taylor down to her nanny this morning? I have to finish getting ready." Hermione said sleepily that morning as she handed the growing baby Taylor to Harry.

"I will Hermione, but why are you so tired?" Harry asked confused.

"Taylor kept me up all night with her crying. But it wasn't just her, the other girl's in the dorm had their babies, and they all were throwing a fit last night."

"Oh, I'm sorry 'Mione. Do you want me to take Taylor tonight?" Harry asked pushing a stray strand of hair away from her face.

"Thanks Harry that would mean a lot to me." Hermione said smiling and making her away back up to the dorms.

Harry stared after her till she was gone, and then he made his way down to the home ec. room for his first drop off for Taylor. "There you go, baby." He said softly as he laid her down in her green crib, and sticking her purple binky in her mouth. When he exited the room he saw a ghost lurking around the corner of the room. She was young, no older then 20, and she was dressed in Indian attire.

"Hello." She said. "I haven't seen you here before. Who are you? Did Mrs. Potter send you?" she asked.

"Um- yeah, I'm Harry Potter Hermione's um-husband." Harry said awkwardly. "Hermione wasn't ready this morning so she had me drop off Taylor. Uh, are you the nanny?" Harry asked the girl who floated through the leather couch.

"Yes. My name is Sound-of-Running-Feet. My father is Chief Wan. I was assigned to look after Taylor while you and Mrs. Potter are in classes."

"Sound-of-Running-Feet? That's kind of a mouthful don't ya think?" Harry asked placing his hand on his chin.

Sound-of-Running-Feet stared at Harry with saucers for eyes. "Are you mocking my name?" she bellowed angrily.

"No! I was just wondering if there was a name I could call you for short like…Running Feet." Harry said quickly as she glided closer to him.

She stopped. "I guess you may call me that. Now be gone! Before your late for classes!"

"Of course, bye!" Harry yelled as he ran out of the house and back up to the main floor of the castle.

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"Harry, I'm bored." Fred moaned as he and Harry's team were sitting on the beach watching the students play around.

"I know, but we need to find recruits." Harry replied not taking his eyes off the people.

"How is this finding recruits exactly?" Angelina asked looking up at the green-eyed wizard.

Groaning Harry faced his team. "Look, I don't know. Do you have a better option?" he snapped.

Everyone was silent then Cody stood up. "Whelp, I'm going surfing, see ya dudes…dudettes." Cody said grabbing his board and running out into the surf.

"No fair!" Seamus moaned.

"Don't get to upset Seamus. That water is probably freezing this time of year." Harry said staring after Cody.

"Ok obviously we're not finding anyone by staring at them so lets go scout around for a little bit." Parvati said looking at her classmates.

"Yeah! We could go in groups." Angelina said. "Harry you go with Seamus, Fred and George of course, and I will go with Parvati."

"But what about Beck over there?" George asked pointing at Cody who was waiting for a wave.

"We can do this without him at the moment." Harry said getting up. "Come on Seamus lets go look over by the group of seventh years."

Seamus followed where Harry was looking and yelped. "What? Those people are freaking huge!"

Harry smiled and nodded. "Exactly!"

"…So I was like 'Dude! What the frog lumps are you doing with my girlfriend?' and he actually had the nerve to stand up to me and pull his wand out! It was freaking insane! But you know I totally won that dual with my cunning and muscle, totally got my girl back to!" Harry and Seamus walked up behind a burly seventh year that was telling some sort of story to his friends. Harry and Seamus cast glances to each other then Harry cleared his throat. The seventh year turned around to face them. "What London?"

"It's Harry, and that's Seamus." Harry corrected.

The seventh year snickered. "Yeah, whatever dudes!" he was wearing Pueblo colored swim shorts; he also had short beach blonde hair and dark blue eyes.

Harry thought for a second thinking for something to tell them. "Um- me and my friend were wondering if you, erm- would like to join this club…" Harry glanced at Seamus for help he immediately got the message.

"Yeah! It's kinda like a rebel club against…dark things." Seamus started. "We're trying to get recru-members to join, but if you do you can't tell anybody about it. It's top secret."

The seventh year looked like he was considering it and stood up. "My name is Kyle, these are my friends Joe and Micah." Kyle said pointing to his two friends, one big and black, and the other small and white, Harry knew instantly who they were. "Your proposition sounds interesting. One question though, does this have anything to do with the dark lord?" he asked this as if it were venom.

Harry stared at Kyle furrowing his eyebrows together. "Why? Are you looking for a group who is trying to take down the dark lord?"

Kyle's face-hardened. "Yes…my mother was taken by him a few months ago, I want revenge and I want my mother back!"

"That's great!" Seamus shouted earning a piercing glare from Kyle. "Oh! I don't mean about your mother! That's horrible! But it just so happens that our group is out to get the 'dark lord' we're called the H.A. for 'Hogwarts Army' we just recently decided that we're going to war with this dark lord, by the way we named him Lucifer." Seamus said as Kyle stared at him.

"H.A.?" Kyle questioned more to himself than to Harry and Seamus. "Interesting…I'm in. I want revenge."

"So do most people in the H.A." Harry said. "We all have lost something to him and we intend to fight back."

Kyle smirked then turned to Joe and Micah. "So guys, are you in?"

Joe and Micah exchanged looks then Joe said in a deep, but quiet voice. "We are so in!"

"Yeah man! I mean we get to totally wipe this 'Lucifer' out man! This is gonna be epic!" Micah shouted jittering up and down.

Kyle put his hand on Micah's head and turned to Harry and Seamus. "Excuse him. He might have A.D.D. we're not sure though, it could be some sort of mental problem."

Harry and Seamus nodded in understanding then led the three boys over to where Fred, George, Angelina, Parvati, and Cody were.

"Hey guys! You find anybody?" Seamus questioned.

"No." Parvati snapped. "Nobody seemed suitable enough."

"Don't worry Parvati there are plenty more people in the school." Harry said comforting her.

"Who's them?" Angelina asked referring to the three seventh years behind Harry and Seamus.

"Team, this is Kyle, Joe, and Micah. They all agreed to be on our team." Harry said pushing them forward a bit.

"Peterson." Cody nodded, towards Kyle who stared at him.

"Beck." He replied back. "Your part of this team?"

"Yeah! I've known Harry since his first day here at Duraflame. I was instantly put on the team." Cody boasted.

"That's great, well now I'm on it to. Is your sister on the team to?"

"Yes. But you stay away from her!" Cody spat advancing on Kyle, that is until Fred and George held him back.

"Fine by me." Kyle replied.

Cody spit down on the sand then Fred and George took him back up to the castle.

"Sorry about that Potter. Beck and me have never been on the best terms since I dated his sister last year and dumped her. It wasn't my fault though it just wasn't working out." Kyle explained as they made their way up to the castle

"It's fine, Cody is just being protective of her." Harry said looking down at his feet as he walked. "Besides Ellie is dating my friend Draco."

Kyle gave him a knowing look then turned to Angelina. "Well hello there doll face, I haven't seen you before."

Angelina looked uneasy then spoke. "Stuff it Peterson!"

"Whoa feisty!" he said throwing his hands up in the air and grinning. Angelina rolled her eyes then told Harry she was going to the Library.

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The next morning the H.A. was eating breakfast catching Kyle, Joe, and Micah up to what was happening when Colin Creevey approached Harry. "Harry Potter." He squeaked. "Professor Hagrid wants you, Hermione, and Draco to come down to the extra games keeper hut."

"Hagrid? He's here?" Harry questioned. Hermione and Draco were listening intently along with the rest of the H.A.

"Yes, he doesn't look to good though." Colin said sadly. Harry, Hermione, and Draco got up to leave quickly when Colin stopped them.

"What Creevey?" Draco asked annoyed.

"Picture!" he said simply. The trio rolled their eyes but Harry and Draco put their arms around Hermione's shoulders while they all smiled for the camera and Draco muttered something under his breath that nobody could hear.

As soon as Colin took the picture the trio ran off. Out of the castle and up the hill a little stood the extra cabin used for visitors. Harry rapped on the door and stood back with his two friends. After a moment of waiting a bloody, tired, bruised Hagrid stepped out of the doorway with Fang close behind him. "There yer' are ya three. Ge' in, hurry would ya'?" he said shooing the trio into the hut while staring wild-eyed outside then hastily closing the door.

_To be continued…_

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**Hope you liked this chapter, I introduced three new characters and I left the story hanging! Truth is I need time to think of how their visit is going to go with Hagrid so that will be next chapter, but I think I left it off at a good spot. I have a picture link on my profile page on what Duraflame looks like, so all of you should totally check it out! And tell me what ya think of it (just imagine there's a beach somewhere below the castle.) Thanks! Please review! –SR7 (P.S. thank you **_**Christian Cadet **_**on your idea with Ron and Gavin! Even though I have no prize to give you, YOU WON!)**


	20. Through the Eyes of the Snake

**Thank you to all of you who reviewed my chapters! I love reading them, as well as getting them. This chapter is the continuation of my last chapter so we get to find out about Hagrid; although his story will be pretty similar to his story in the book (except it will be in my words) it is a little different since I haven't read that part in a long time. Please read and review! Thanks! –SR7**

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_Last Chapter:_

_The next morning the H.A. was eating breakfast catching Kyle, Joe, and Micah up to what was happening when Colin Creevey approached Harry. "Harry Potter." He squeaked. "Professor Hagrid wants you, Hermione, and Draco to come down to the extra games keeper hut."_

_"Hagrid? He's here?" Harry questioned. Hermione and Draco were listening intently along with the rest of the H.A._

_"Yes, he doesn't look to good though." Colin said sadly. Harry, Hermione, and Draco got up to leave quickly when Colin stopped them._

_"What Creevey?" Draco asked annoyed._

_"Picture!" he said simply. The trio rolled their eyes but Harry and Draco put their arms around Hermione's shoulders while they all smiled for the camera and Draco muttered something under his breath that nobody could hear._

_As soon as Colin took the picture the trio ran off. Out of the castle and up the hill a little stood the extra cabin used for visitors. Harry rapped on the door and stood back with his two friends. After a moment of waiting a bloody, tired, bruised Hagrid stepped out of the doorway with Fang close behind him. "There yer' are ya three. Ge' in, hurry would ya'?" he said shooing the trio into the hut while staring wild-eyed outside then hastily closing the door…_

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"Hagrid! What happened to you?" Harry asked concerned after getting a good look at Hagrid when he turned to face the trio.

"Would yer three like sum tea?" _**(A/N: sorry it's kinda hard to talk like Hagrid) **_Hagrid wondered clearly trying to avoid the subject.

"You look more disgusting then usual." Draco stated scrunching up his nose. Harry elbowed him in the side before Hagrid could give him the glare.

Hagrid set the teacups down on the table then motioned for the trio to sit. Before Hagrid said anything he took a slab of raw meat out of his jacket and threw it to Fang, who clobbered it. "Yeh three are probably wondering why I look so bloodied up'." He said staring down into his cup stirring the milk around.

"Yes Hagrid we are wondering that. Please tell us." Hermione begged.

"Well firs' yeh two have ta tell me what's up with Malfoy and Weasley." Hagrid started glaring at Draco who looked offended.

"Draco is on our side Hagrid." Harry started. "We've become really good friends over the past couple months, as when Ron has started to pull away from us." Harry and Hermione exchanged glances then Harry continued. "Draco is my co-mate leader on the H.A. a secret organization. And Ron… well that's a long story."

Hagrid cut his glare off of Draco and turned to the couple. "Yeh mean ta tell meh tha' Ron ain't no longer here?"

"Yes Hagrid, we think Lucifer, the dark lord, drove him away back to London." Hermione said with a hint of fear in her eyes.

Hagrid grunted and slammed his cup onto the table. "Bloody ministry!" he muttered to himself.

"What?" Draco asked confused beyond belief.

Hagrid lifted his gaze up to the three friends and sighed relieving some tension from his head and back. "Why did Ron leave? Don't he know tha' London ain't a safe place righ' now?"

"What do you mean it's not a safe place right now?" Harry questioned his gaze becoming hard.

Hagrid lowered his voice as if afraid someone would hear them. "You-Know-Who has death eaters everywhere righ' now. The ministry ain't do'ing anything abou' it since You-Know-Who has planted sum of 'is faithful servants in the ministry as the higher ranks. Umbridge, for example, is a nasty woman 'who is driving muggle borns out of the country' withou' a fair trial. The Aurors were sent into hidin' by sum of the faithful followers of Professor Dumbledore."

"Do you think Ron is being sent into a trap?" Harry questioned.

Hagrid shrugged. "Who in this world' knows?"

"Lucifer." Draco stated quietly.

"Don' be a smar' Alec with' meh, Malfoy." Hagrid snapped.

"Sorry Hagrid." Draco mumbled.

"Well that's another thing now on our plate, but before we get into further discussion about it, Hagrid please tell us what happened to you, and why you are finally at the school, but in December?" Hermione mumbled staring at Hagrid with sad eyes.

"Well it uh seems I can't hide this story anymore." Hagrid said quietly, and then looking up at the friends he began his story. "It'll started back in June after 'Arry competed for the blasted Tri-Wizard cup. Dumbledore told meh tha' I needed to get sum giants on our team before You-Know-Who could ge' em. So I asked my friend Madam Maxim to accompany me on this mission. We traveled up to the mountains in search of em, well we found a- erm- cave tha' we stayed in. It took a while, but we finally stumbled on a giant camp. We eh, tried to make an alliance wi' the giant king, almost did to, but he said we needed to prove ourselves, by giving 'im gif's and showing 'im that magic ain't all tha' dangerous."

"Why would you need to prove to them magic isn't all that dangerous?" Harry wondered.

Hagrid sighed. " 'Cause Giants find magic as a weapon used agains' them. They ain't to fond wi' the idea of magic."

"Oh." Harry calmly said.

"Yeh, well anyway, we gave the King magical gifts for awhile, but the King started getting greedy. Tha' nigh' a battle broke out among the Giant camp. The King died init as well. They 'ad to get a new King, so the position went ta the second in command he ain't a good Giant who was easy to please like the other King. Well one nigh' while meh and Madam Maxim were asleep a gang o' death eaters came, and basically took control of the camp. Madam and I 'ad ta escape the mountain before the death eaters could find us, so we didn't ge' any giant's on our side, the one's that were alive anyway."

"But what about your cuts and bruises?" Draco asked.

"Erm… How 'bout sum more tea." Hagrid said getting up and heading to the stove.

"Hagrid… What happened to you?" Hermione asked sternly.

Hagrid kept his head down facing his teakettle while Fang stole another slab of meat from under Hagrid's dirty coat. "Don' be mad at meh." He said quietly.

"What? Why would we be mad at you?" Hermione asked suspicious as she stood up from her chair.

"I erm- brough' someone here wi' meh."

The trio exchanged looks, and Hagrid left the hut in silence. The trio followed closely behind with Fang.

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"Thi' is Grawp, my half brother." Hagrid announced when he led the trio into the woods. Coming across a Giant, the trio stepped back in fear. Hagrid noticed this. "Aw, don' be afraid. Grawp wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Then why did he beat you up?" Hermione half screamed and spat.

"Eh, well, it's in a Giant's nature. They ain't exactly gentle." He said scratching the back of his head. "He followed meh, and Madam Maxim out a the mountains, I couldn't jus' le' 'im go. 'E's my brother. Yeh three can't tell anyone abou' 'im though, or else they'll take 'im away."

"Oh! The tragedy!" Draco yelled sarcastically.

"Can it Malfoy!" Hagrid yelled back stroking Grawp's leg to calm him down.

Grawp let out a wailing sound then started running towards the trio. Harry tried to keep Hermione behind him, but Grawp came up and picked Hermione up by the waist. She started screaming, and Harry and Draco were yelling her name, but Grawp thought this was a game so he held on to her.

Hermione wasn't feeling comfortable being held by Grawp so she stuck her finger out at him and out on her best demanding face on, then spoke. "Put. Me. Down… Now!"

Grawp didn't know what she said, but put her down anyway. Hermione ran into Harry's arms, while Grawp ran over to the tree he was tied to and grabbed a bicycle's handlebars. Running back over to the trio he set the handlebars in Hermione's hands gently. He sat in front of them waiting for something to happen, so Hermione rang the bell that was attached and Grawp danced a dance of joy.

"Harry, and think you have some competition now." Draco teased trying to hold in his laughs.

"Shut up Draco." Harry grumbled glaring at Grawp.

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"Pass the beans." Seamus said from across Harry and the Dinner Hall.

"Here," Harry grumbled passing the bowl off.

"What up with the grumpy attitude mate?" Seamus asked, serving himself his portion of baked beans, then passing the bowl to Neville.

Harry sighed and placed his head in his hands. "I don't know I haven't been sleeping good lately. So much has been going on right now that it's making me tired. Plus I keep having this dream of a door, whoever knows what that means, but for some reason whenever I dream about that, I wake up suddenly, all sweaty and panting, according to Draco."

"This is cool, usually you would tell this stuff to either Hermione, Draco, or Ron. I feel like I'm in the loop now. Wow, thanks mate!" Seamus exclaimed happily while Harry scowled at him.

"Harry!" Draco called from across the hall.

Harry turned his head towards him, and then Draco started running his way over. "What Draco? Could it wait till after dinner?"

Draco put his thinking face on for a second then shook it off. "No! Hermione's in the library right now, and this Cortez dude is hitting on her. I just thought you should know, maybe we could kick some more Cortez butt." Draco said in a rush.

"Who's hitting on her?" Harry asked, his anger bubbling up inside him.

"Um, I think his name is Austin, or something. I hear he's a real player (according to David) should we do something about it… please?" Draco begged whipping his wand out of his pocket, like he was ready for anything.

"Take me to them!" Harry urged getting up.

"I'm coming too Harry!" Seamus yelled, as he followed the duo out the door.

"So where are they?" Harry asked Draco as the three boys stood in the empty library, surrounded by books the boys would most likely never read.

Draco plastered a guilty face on, and then moved to stand in front of Harry. "Ok, I lied. There is no Cortez dude hitting on Hermione."

"Then why did you bring me here?" Harry yelled, not caring that he was in a library.

"Well first of all, I'm a top notch liar, so it was easy to get you down here. Two, I needed to talk to you somewhere where there wasn't going to be any people, and I knew once I showed you what I'm about to show you. You would never have come down here." Draco said folding his arms, and Seamus sniggering when Draco said 'I need to talk to you somewhere where no one would be' aka, the library.

Harry folded his arms to and glared at Draco. "What is it Malfoy? Tell me."

Draco sighed but extracted a piece of parchment from his cloak anyway. Thrusting the letter into Harry's hands, Draco took out his wand and said some sort of spell that opened the letter up revealing scrawny handwriting. Draco stood back. "Well… Go on, read it." He urged.

Opening the letter Harry read…

_Dear HJP and DLM,_

_Hello, this is your friend RBW. I am home with my mum now, and I'm currently helping take care of her with brother number 2. I got word from an anonymous house elf at Hogwarts that the school is more then halfway restored. You should also know that 'L' is not in California right now. He is "visiting" the American minister. Warn someone (AWBD) about this, 'L' may be trying to do something "bad" to him. HJP, I know you are mad at me, and probably won't believe a word I wrote in this letter, but please I beg you tell someone (AWBD) I don't want to hear of another death, to many of them has been occurring in Europe already. Take care of HJG, EHB, LMB, GMW, and the twins… By the way you should know, that the owl post is being intercepted by ministry officials, so be careful what you write…_

_Your Friend,_

_RBW_

Harry and Seamus looked up from the letter to face a solemn faced Draco. "Ron sent this." Harry said as Draco nodded. "And 'L' means Lucifer. AWBD means Dumbledore." Again Draco kept nodding, Harry continued. "HJG is Hermione, EHB is Ellie, LMB is Lavender, and GMW is Ginny." Draco kept nodding his face indifferent.

"Are you going to tell Dumbledore?" Seamus wondered after a silence between the three.

Harry crumpled up the letter in his fist and threw is somewhere behind the bookshelves. "How do we know Ron is telling the truth? Lucifer could have told him to send us that to put us in a trap!" Harry raged.

"I don't know Harry, but something about how he wrote this letter makes me believe him. And that is coming from me." Draco chuckled as he remembered his sketchy past with the Weasley family and the Malfoy family.

"I think we need to tell someone." Seamus insisted. "If not Dumbledore then maybe Snape, or Goldby, or some of the Order of the Phoenix people. I don't feel comfortable knowing this and not telling anybody about it." Seamus said shivering as if a draft was in the room.

"I agree with Finnegan mate. We need to tell somebody." Draco responded taking a seat propping his feet up on the table.

Harry groaned and threw his head back. "Fine! We'll tell Dumbledore tomorrow."

"Excellent!" Draco beamed. "Now, how bout those Chundley Cannons?"

As the boys got into a conversation about Quidditch, they had yet to realize someone was listening in on their conversation, and _she_ was hatching a plan, but not a helpful plan.

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"Well all of you must be wondering why I'm here and not Professor Hawk. Well I can answer that." Goldby stated as he paced the dueling stage in front of the class of 5th year students. "Professor Hawk has gone away on family matters to Virginia where he will be staying for awhile. I realize I'm also now the only DADA teacher, but I think I can take on this task to. So if there are no questions I want Longbottom and Thomas to start us off today with the dual."

As Dean and Neville took their positions on the stage Draco grabbed Harry by the arm and led him to the back of the class, where of course Seamus followed. "What is it?" Harry wondered furrowing his eyebrows.

Draco tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "Goldby said Hawk was gone… to Virginia. I'm not great on American history but isn't that bloody close to where the American ministry is, you know, it being under the white house." Draco added.

"Great! Ron was right." Harry whispered shouted sarcastically.

"Mates, we really need to tell Dumbledore about this now. Goldby doesn't even know about this, and he's an ex- Auror." Seamus said carefully.

"Wha-Wha-wait!" Draco whispered yelled. "So are we establishing that Brody Hawk is the dark lord? Or our so called Lucifer?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "I guess, but we should talk about this later. There's to many people around to talk about it right now."

Seamus and Draco nodded then the trio 'nonchalantly' went back to their spots as Dean hexed Neville. Hermione was watching Harry walk back to his spot next to her, and when Harry was there she gave him a 'what-were-you-doing?' stare. Harry saw this and shook it off, then placed his arm around Hermione as they watched as Seth and Darrick dueled each other.

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Harry was walking down an empty corridor, alone. He was thinking- wait feeling overwhelmed about Lucifer and Voldemort. Voldemort was still killing innocent people and Lucifer was about to kill Minister Wolf, yet again striking another global terror since Hogwarts. Harry made a mental note to himself to ask Hermione how the war strategies were coming so far, later.

"Harry Potter?" A voice asked from in front of Harry. Harry lifted his head to see Professor Dunn standing there with his wand out. "What are you doing roaming the corridors at this time of night?" he asked cautiously.

"Sorry Professor, I just need to walk around, to think. I've been a little stressed lately." Harry answered.

Dunn twitched his mouth to the side then looked around the perimeter, whispering to Harry. "Alright Potter, I think you need to talk about this. Follow me into my office."

Harry nodded, and then followed his tentative professor to his potions classroom.

"Make your self at home, Potter. I'll go prepare a drink, what would you like?" Dunn asked as he busied himself in his small kitchen area, in his small office.

"Um, some tea would be fine professor." Harry replied faintly, taking a seat in one of the cushioned chairs.

"So what has been troubling you boy?" Dunn asked as he prepared the drinks.

Harry blinked twice then replied. "Uh- well I have been having these nightmares about a door, in a deserted corridor somewhere, but before I ever get a chance to open it I wake up. I want to know what it means. Dumbledore would probably tell me my dreams are related to Voldemort, but how could he be so sure, when I'm only seeing a door?"

Dunn nodded his head as he brought Harry's tea over and situated his own coffee in his hands. "I've heard of you Potter, about your dreams, and how they become true. I mean I'm sure you've dreamt of Miss Granger, and you have her." Harry blushed at this. "Your dream you had last year of Barty Crouch and Dumbledore was true." Harry looked up from his cup in shock.

"How do you know about that dream?"

Dunn gave out a hearty laugh. "Potter me boy, I'm close friends with Dumbledore. I find out these things."

"So you think this dream will come true? Of the door?" Harry asked concern daring to overcome his voice.

Dunn fidgeted with his robes then looked at Harry with caring eyes. "I can not control what you dream, Potter, but have you ever considered learning occlumency? It would probably help you control your mind, if Voldemort _is_ trying to control it."

"What is occlumency?"

"Occlumency is when you learn to control your mind, you can block things that dares to penetrate your mind, or if someone try's to enter your mind forcefully you may kick em out. Now, I don't think I would be the best person to teach you this, as you barely know me, but I do know that Professor Snape is a skilled Occlumens and Legilimens. He would probably teach you, would you be up to this? Most likely you wouldn't start your lessons until after Winter Break though."

Occlumency, Harry thought, it would be a good way to block Voldemort out of my mind. "Alright, I'll do it if it will help me with my dreams."

Dunn smiled and took a sip of his coffee. "Excellent! I will inform Snape of this in the morning." Dunn continued to stare at Harry, would still looked troubled. "I know about Lucifer you know, and the H.A." Once Dunn said this Harry's ears perked up as his head shot upward.

"How? No one in the Duraflame staff is supposed to know!" Harry yelled.

But Dunn laughed. "Don't worry Harry, Dumbledore told me about it. I told you, we're great friends. Dumbledore hasn't even told Headmaster Heffner, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Also I'm helping Severus try to unlock that trunk you gave him to open, the dang thing has been a pain all year!"

"When did you find out?" Harry asked breezily.

"When Dumbledore asked Headmaster Heffner if your school could come and study here for this year. I am apart of the American ministry officials as well as a good reference for your British ministry, so I am a safe source." Dunn reassured. "So, do you have anymore questions for me to answer for you?"

Harry thought for a second. "Actually yes, I don't think Hawk left for Virginia for "family matters" we think Hawk is in fact Lucifer. I got a letter from Ron Weasley today saying that he thinks Lucifer is going to try to murder the Minister. We also think Pore is one of his accomplices as well as Professor Phoebe."

"Professor Phoebe?" Dunn questioned almost outraged.

"Yes, Professor Phoebe." Harry stated.

"Well I'll be." Dunn mused. "I will talk to Professor Kelly about this. Unless she's a suspect to."

Harry shook his head. "I'm pretty sure Professor Kelly is fine. We haven't heard or seen anything suspicious coming from her, other than the fact that she's friends with Phoebe, but that doesn't mean that she knows about Phoebe's 'secret' yet."

"Perfectly understandably Potter, so I will speak with Severus, Albus, and Kelly." Dunn said counting off the names with his fingers.

"But shouldn't I talk to Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked confused.

Dunn's mouth opened a bit, but he snapped it shut nervously. "I'm sorry Potter, but I don't think that would be the best idea."

"Why not?" Harry asked eyeing his strange professor.

Dunn hesitated for a second but spoke anyway. "Dumbledore doesn't think he should look at you, let alone talk to you. He believes if he does Voldemort will interfere. That's why he hasn't been that much help to you this year. I wasn't supposed to tell you that, but I feel you should know, rather then feel alienated."

"Oh… Thank you? But then how am I supposed to be in contact with him?" Harry asked he could feel is voice rising.

"You can tell either me, Snape, McGonagall, or Goldby. We would be happy to send any messages you have for him."

"I'll do that Professor, thank you. I think I should probably head to bed now." Harry said standing up.

"Yes, I think you should to. I have to get out there anyway to patrol the halls, so I'll see you in class tomorrow Potter. And remember what I said." Dunn said also getting up and setting his cup down on the table.

"See ya Professor." Harry said waving goodbye and exiting the office.

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"You need to learn Occlumency?" Draco asked Harry, when Harry got to the boys dormitory Draco was still up so he told him about his visit with Professor Dunn.

"Yup, Dunn feels it will help me control my mind, and block Voldemort out of it." Harry answered.

Draco played with a loose string on his blanket. "You know, I know Occlumency." He mumbled.

"What?" Harry asked astonished. "Since when?"

"About a year ago. Aunt Bellatrix taught me, I guess it was part of my training to become a death eater. She would use Legilimency on me, and I would have to block her out. It took 13 painful hours for me, but we didn't stop working on it until I got it right. So it didn't take as long for me to learn, as it will with you."

"Bellatrix taught you?" Harry spat.

Draco sighed. "Yup, my mother didn't want her to teach me, but Voldemort insisted since once day I would become his little "servant" but we all know how that turned out."

Harry nodded silently feeling sorry for his friend. Harry couldn't imagine spending 13 hours with Bellatrix penetrating his brain the whole time. That would be down right torture. Wanting to not talk about it any longer Harry suggested they go to bed. Draco enthusiastically agreed, also not wanting to stay on this topic.

_**~*~*~* Harry's Dream ~*~*~***_

_Harry was going down the corridor-wait he was gliding down the corridor somehow. He got to the door, without touching it; it swung open to reveal a room full of shelves. Each shelf contained hundreds of ball shaped ornaments glistening in the eerie light. Harry looked at a large ball that was mounted on a stand on one of the top shelves. For some odd reason he felt himself being drawn nearer to the ball, he almost touched it when a musty voice cried out. "Nagini!" For some odd reason he turned away from the ball so he was facing the direction to where the voice was coming from._

_There in the middle of the aisle stood lord Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew. Behind Peter a figure in a black cloak was kneeling down with his head lowered. "Come Nagini!" Voldemort hissed. "I have a snack for you."_

_A reason unknown to Harry, he felt himself slithering towards Voldemort and Peter. Voldemort smirked and took out his wand. Peter bent down and undid the ties tied to the captive's wrists. "Goodbye Lucius!" Peter yelled vehemently._

"_Dig in… my pet." Voldemort rasped._

'_NO!' Harry thought as he made his way closer to Lucius' body. Without thinking Harry, in Nagini's form, struck Lucius in the chest again Harry's snake form struck repeatedly not even stopping for a break. Blood poured out of Malfoy's body until he lay limp on the ground. Then Harry slithered over to Voldemort who patted his head. "Nicely done… my pet." Laughing evilly Voldemort and Peter disappeared._

_**~*~*~* End of Harry's Dream ~*~*~***_

"NO!" Harry screamed as he woke up with a start. Harry could feel sweat on his face and on his chest. Standing before him was Draco, Cody, Seth, David, Darrick, and McGonagall.

"Harry! What's wrong?" Draco exclaimed anguish evident in his voice.

Harry stared Draco down letting his chest heave in and out. "It's your dad. He's hurt!"

"Wha-what?" Draco uttered.

"We need to take him to Dumbledore. Boys help Harry out of bed and follow me!" McGonagall barked as she threw back Harry's covers and Seth and Cody helped him up. The six boys followed McGonagall out until they reached one of the towers. "_Hogwarts Army!_" she exclaimed as they reached a painting of a restored Hogwarts. A ghost came up, Sir Nicholas to be exact.

"Enter." He said swinging the portrait opened.

"Albus! We have a problem!" McGonagall bellowed with her thick Scottish accent.

Dumbledore looked up from his desk, his eyes were bloodshot and bags were clearly visible under his eyes. "What is it Minerva?" He questioned softly.

"Potter has had a dream! Let him tell you."

Harry looked around and met Dumbledore's eyes. "I went into a room." He began. "It was covered with balls on shelves. Voldemort and Pettigrew were there with Lucius Malfoy. Voldemort ordered m- a snake to attack Malfoy until he appeared lifeless. Voldemort congratulated the snake then he and Pettigrew disappeared, and that's when I woke up." Harry decided not to say that he was the one who attacked Malfoy.

For the first time Dumbledore looked at him, but not with a look Harry would have preferred. "When you saw this happen, were you watching from the sidelines or were you in the eyes of the snake?"

Harry hesitated and didn't answer. Dumbledore seemed to have expected this for he walked up to a portrait on the wall and started whispering to the woman behind it. The woman nodded and left the canvas. "Albus what are we to do about this? Should Draco go to St. Mungo's? For I assume someone has taken Mr. Malfoy there by now." McGonagall spoke significantly loud as she said this.

Dumbledore nodded. "I would like Draco, Harry, and Hermione to leave for St. Mungo's and stay in London until Winter Break is done. They may stay at Grimmauld Place, they should be safe there. I shall have Severus check in on them regularly until the start of term."

"But Albus, there's still a week left of classes, and what about the babies?" McGonagall asked shrilling.

"Mr. Malfoy may choose to leave his daughter here with Miss. Beck or he may take her with him. Mr. Potter and Miss. Granger on the other hand must take their daughter with them since they will both be leaving. Am I understood?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes." The boys and McGonagall muttered.

"Good. Minerva go fetch Hermione, Harry and Draco go pack your bags and meet me in the courtyard in ten minutes. Boys…" Dumbledore said turning to the four Duraflame's. "Go back to bed, and I suggest you not tell anyone what has happened here tonight yet."

Cody, Seth, David, and Darrick nodded then left the office with McGonagall, Harry, and Draco.

Harry and Draco packed their clothes in their trunks, Harry stuffed some books in to incase he needed them. Then Harry got a separate bag and shrunk Taylor's things and crammed them in. Looking over at Draco Harry had to ask. "Are you going to bring Bella with us?"

Draco looked back at Harry with sad eyes. "If my father doesn't survive this, I want him to at least see my baby, even if she isn't totally real."

Harry nodded. "Totally understandable."

And then picking Taylor and Bella up, and their luggage, the two boys made their way down to the courtyard of the school, where Dumbledore and Hermione were waiting. "Harry and Draco hold onto your babies tight. Hermione hold onto my hand and Harry's arm. Draco, I will hold onto your arm. When I count to three we will Apparate to Diagon Alley." Dumbledore instructed while the trio got situated into their spots. Dumbledore cleared his throat and begin counting. "One…Two…Three!"

Harry felt the swish and a jab, and then he landed. He had definitely left California, and finally was in the familiar environment of Diagon Alley.

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**And that was chapter 20! I feel this was kinda a filler/informational chapter, but I hoped you liked it anyway! Tell me what you think of Hagrid, oh and he will appear in later chapters! I know in the books Mr. Weasley was the one attacked by the snake, but if you remember from chapter 18 in my story, the conversation between Coach Cliff and Dumbledore they said Arthur was in Romania visiting his son so Malfoy took over his job… Hopefully that makes sense now. So review and tell me what ya think! Thanks! –SR7**

**P.S. I don't know if I got Hagrid's speech exactly right, but I feel I got it close enough, and I really don't feel like going back and fixing it, so there ya go!**


	21. A Visit to St Mungo's

**Hey! I'm back, here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy reading it! Thanks! –SR7**

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Diagon Alley, I place Harry loved. This was the place where he got his wand from Ollivander's, where he got Hedwig, where he found out he had wealth, and where he first met Draco Malfoy. But of course they were enemies back then. Dumbledore started walking down the street the trio followed silently. Dumbledore kept walking until they came upon an old telephone box. The Professor told everyone to enter the box. When they did it was greatly cramped, Dumbledore took out a galleon and picked up the phone, placing the galleon in the coin slot he demanded "St. Mungo's". Putting down the phone the floor of the box began to descend into the ground.

Different colors began to flash into the small square windows. Taylor and Bella were struggling in Harry and Draco's arms in order to touch the lights. The ride finally stopped and Dumbledore led the friends out of the box. They were in muggle London.

"What are we doing here Professor?" Draco asked as a businessman passed them looking at them strangely. (They all still had their cloaks on.)

Dumbledore ignored the question and headed towards an abandoned clothing store. Looking around briefly Dumbledore tapped the brick wall with his wand; standing to the side Dumbledore lowered his voice. "Step through the wall, quickly!"

The trio obeyed and one by one the casually entered the enchanted wall. They entered coming across a huge building. Hermione looked amazed as she set her eyes on the building. "Is this really St. Mungo's Professor?" she asked giddily.

Nodding Dumbledore's face did not faze. "Follow me you three." He answered. The trio did as they were told, and Dumbledore led them to the side of the building away from the eyes of the public. "Harry, you and Draco are wanted fugitives for the death eaters. You can't be seen in public. You need to change your appearance, as do you Miss. Granger." Dumbledore said quietly handing each friend a flask. "Take a sip. Mr. Potter and Miss. Granger I know your familiar with this potion."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at the flask, poly juice potion, of course! Hesitating slightly, Harry brought the flask up to his lips, downing the horrible flavor Harry threw down the flask. Pain spread across his body as he began to mutate into another body. His skin was bubbling and stretching until the pain and bubbling stopped. Dumbledore handed each friend a mirror so they could look at themselves. Harry was an older man, maybe in his early thirties with long brown hair, blue eyes, and stubble on his chin. His new appearance seemed so different from his normal one, he didn't even have his scar anymore, and his glasses were proving useless at the second so he stuffed them in his new clothes. He was wearing slightly ripped up jeans, a leather jacket, and a red v-neck shirt. Harry grinned at his new look, and then looked up to see his girlfriend, and friend.

Hermione was blonde, and had longer wavy hair. She had hazel eyes with a taller skinnier figure. She was also wearing a dark navy blue strapless dress that went down just above her knees; also she had a tan business looking jacket, black leggings, and black boots. She was beautiful, but Harry thought she looked better her normal way. Draco on the other had still had his pale blonde hair, except it was cut in a buzz cut. He also had dark brown eyes, and he was wearing a leather jacket like Harry, but he also had dark faded jeans and a _NIKE_ shirt that said _'Just do it'_.

Dumbledore grinned. "Perfect, so now for your identities. Draco your name is Nathan Wyss, you work as a assistant manager for the Chundley Cannons, Bella is your daughter, and your wife is deceased."

Draco frowned. "Awwww, poor wife." He whined.

Then Dumbledore turned to Harry and Hermione. "Harry, your name is Trent Whilde, you work as my apprentice, Taylor is your daughter, and your wife is Hermione…"

Harry's eyes widened and his smile broadened. "Not bad."

"Hermione." Dumbledore said turning to her. "Your name is Josie Whilde, you are a stay at home mum, Taylor of course is your daughter, and Harry is your husband. Any questions?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes I have one." Draco said. "What if someone asks me who my wife was?"

Dumbledore let out a groan and rubbed his temple with his fingers. "Just say that it's to hard to talk about, and it's private."

"Ok." Draco sighed. "Oh wait I have another one!" he said stopping Dumbledore in his tracks.

"What Draco?" he seethed.

"Who did you get the hairs from for this potion?"

Dumbledore hesitated. "Just a couple of wizards that I saw wandering around. No big deal, really."

Draco's eyes went big and his mouth gaped open. "Cool!"

"Now that is settled lets get into the building before someone finds us suspicious looking." Dumbledore stated leading the group into the big brass double doors.

Sitting at a receptionist desk in the middle of the room sat a short plump older lady with rectangular spectacles, curly red hair, and a blue uniform. She looked up and the approaching group and sighed. "Yes?" she asked in a less than cheerful voice.

"We're here to see Lucius Malfoy." Dumbledore said confidently.

The lady raised her eyebrows then focused her attention on the three students and their babies. "I'm sorry but I'll need to know who you all are before I let you further into the hospital."

"Albus Dumbledore." Dumbledore said. "And this is Trent, Josie, and Taylor Whilde." He said motioning his hand towards the 'Whilde' family. Then turning to Draco and Bella he spoke. "And this is Nathan and Bella Wyss."

"Uh huh." The lady voiced. "Lucius Malfoy is on the first floor second door on your right. You are allowed an hour visit with him, for he has to be looked after right now. Now be gone! ... Next!" she yelled causing the group to wince.

As the group began to walk around the desk the lady stopped them. "What is it lady?" Draco asked trying to sound respectable.

She just smirked as she leaned over her desk towards Draco. "Good luck this season Nathan!" she said flirtatiously.

Draco eyes shot out of his eye sockets, as he didn't hesitate to run away from the lobby. Harry chuckled as Draco caught up with them. "Who's your girlfriend _Nathan_?" he asked teasingly.

"Shut up Harry." He mumbled bringing Bella's head closer to his chest.

"Stop it you two!" Hermione scolded keeping her voice quiet but threatening at the same time. "You have to act like adults here."

"This way!" Dumbledore announced after a moment of silence. The old Professor led the way to the door that said _Creature induced injuries: Dai Llewellyn ward_. Dumbledore carefully opened the door up to reveal a large room with several hospital beds, although only a couple was occupied. On the right side a family was visiting a patient behind a closed curtain around the bed, so no one knew who was behind there. On the left was an older man who was asleep, but he had a massive scratch across his cheek and chest. Towards the back of the room they saw Lucius Malfoy reading a magazine in his bed.

"Father!" Draco squeaked.

Lucius put his head up at the voice of his son, but didn't see him anywhere just a strange man who looked like he was about to cry. "Eh! I must be hearing things!" he muttered.

"Father, it's me Draco, I'm just in someone else's form right now! You believe me right?" Draco asked hopefully, he could feel is eyes fill up with tears, as he took his father's hand.

Lucius made no move to acknowledge Draco, or _Nathan_, was his son. He just sat there with a blank face. Then he turned to Dumbledore. "Albus, do I know this man?"

Dumbledore exhaled. "Yes Lucius, you do. That is your son, Draco. I made him take Poly Juice potion so he wouldn't look like himself coming here."

Malfoy took a double take of his son then sniffed. Then embracing his son in a hug he started to cry. Hermione placed a hand over her chest sighing at the sweet moment, while Harry smiled at the father son bonding moment. Lucius held back his son by his shoulders after they stopped hugging and took a look at Bella whom Draco set on the bed. "Who's that?" he asked eyeing the girl.

Draco wiped a tear away and picked Bella up. "Father this is Bella my daughter."

Malfoy's eyes grew wide at this. "When did this happen?" he asked in pure shock.

"Don't worry Lucius it's a school project." Dumbledore reassured smiling. Malfoy mouthed an 'O' with his mouth and took Bella in his arms so he could take a good look at her.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Harry asked stepping forward from his spot next to Hermione and Dumbledore.

"Yes? Who are you?" he asked scanning Harry's appearance with his eyes.

"It's me, Harry Potter. I've become Draco's friend and co leader this year, and I thought maybe I could have a word with you." Harry said more as a statement than a question.

Malfoy nodded and handed Draco his baby back as he, Hermione, and Dumbledore walked over to the other side of the room to give them privacy. "What is it Potter?" Malfoy asked as soon as the rest of the group was far enough away.

Harry took a deep breath then stared Malfoy in the eye. "I want you to know that I saw the attack happen, that Nagini attacked you on Voldemort's orders."

Malfoy stared daggers into Harry. "You should never have come here Potter." He warned. "This could be a trap set by Voldemort to get you back here, so he can capture you. I appreciate your help because without you I would never have been rescued, but you still shouldn't have come."

"Huh?" Harry wondered. "But all I did was tell Dumbledore and-"

"And he sent Everard to the Ministry and told them I was down in the room badly hurt." Lucius said cutting Harry off.

"Wait, whose Everard?" Harry questioned.

"A old headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore has his portrait in his office. He sent Everard to his other Portrait in the ministry and that's how the officials found me. He also sent Dilys, a former Headmistress, to her portrait here at St. Mungo's to tell the healers about my condition so the prepared a blood replenishing potion before I arrived here." Malfoy answered expertly.

Harry dawned a look of realization on his face when he remembered Dumbledore talking to the portraits in his office briefly when he arrived with McGonagall, but he must have been to distracted to notice what he was doing. "Oh." he mumbled.

Malfoy nodded his head slightly. Then looked behind Harry. "Potter, who is the girl with you?"

Harry turned around to see Hermione holding Taylor talking to the man in the hospital bed who used to be asleep with Dumbledore and Draco. "Oh, that's Hermione, my girlfriend, and she's holding our daughter Taylor." He answered turning back to face Malfoy.

Malfoy's eye's softened and he started cocking his head to the side. "Potter I hope you don't mind, but may I hold your daughter? I love babies."

Harry smiled back warmly. "No, I don't mind. Josie!" he called. It took a second but Hermione turned her head towards Harry. "Come here!"

Hermione did as she was told and came up to the bed. "What is it Trent?"

"Lucius wants to hold Taylor really quickly, so I told him he could." Harry responded smiling. Hermione looked skeptical about this and didn't show any movement towards Malfoy, so Harry took Taylor out of her arms, and handed her to a welcoming Malfoy.

He started to tear up again. "She's beautiful." He gasped. "She has your eyes Potter, and Granger's nose, and Granger's hair color. I bet if she was real she you have your Quidditch skills Potter."

Harry beamed. "Thank you Sir." He whispered.

"Excuse me, Mr. Malfoy." A healer announced as she approached his bed.

"Yes Healer Sidnee?" Malfoy asked reluctantly tearing his eyes away from Taylor.

Healer Sidnee spoke curtly. "It's time for another dose of blood replenishing potion. I'm going to have to ask your friends to leave."

Malfoy sighed. "Oh, alright then. You two take care of this one." He said handing Hermione Taylor back to hold.

"We'll come back later." Harry promised.

"If you want to stay, there is a tea shop on the fifth floor for visitors. We can come and get you when he is done with his potion." Sidnee said while writing notes on her clipboard.

"Okay, bye Mr. Malfoy." Harry said waving. Then him and Hermione left his bed and got Draco and Dumbledore.

"Ah, Trent…Josie, what did Lucius need?" Dumbledore asked as they exited the room.

"He wanted to hold Taylor." Harry responded. "The healer told us we can wait in the visitor's room until their done with the potion, and they'll come and get us when they're done."

"Alright then, lets head up." Dumbledore proclaimed.

They made it to the fifth floor without any troubles, and settled into the couches with their tea. Bella and Taylor were set on the floor to play with two stuffed owl animals they got at the hospital gift shop. There was quiet a few people in the visitors' room, but one person caught Harry's eye. A woman was sitting in the dark corner of the room absent-mindedly drinking her tea, but she was also staring at the group with dark eyes, as she had a black cloak on with the hood over her head.

Feeling uneasy Harry tried to distract himself with playing with Taylor but he could feel the woman's eyes boring into his head.

"So Nathan, I hear your father is going to be ok, he just needs some more of his potion and he should be out before Christmas." Dumbledore said merrily getting Harry's attention.

"Great!" Draco yelled. Some of the people in the room turned their heads towards Draco but he ignored them. "Is he going to come stay with us at Grimmauld place?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, your mother should be visiting on Christmas, but she cannot leave her post next to Voldemort, sadly he wouldn't even let her see your father because he couldn't come to laugh in his face." Dumbledore said sadly shaking his head in disgust.

"He's sick!" Draco spat.

"I think we all know that Nathan." Hermione said putting her hand on his back in a comforting way.

"Professor, how much longer until the poly juice potion wears off?" Harry asked still trying to block the creepy staring lady out of his head.

Dumbledore thought for a second. "Maybe fifteen minutes. We should leave soon." He said setting his teacup down on the small table in front of him. Harry and Draco picked up their daughters as they all hurried to leave the room.

"Oh! Mr. Dumbledore!" Healer Sidnee called from the other end of the hall. "I was just about to come get you. Mr. Malfoy is done with his potion and has requested to see his nephew."

"Nephew?" Draco asked.

"Yes, why aren't you his nephew?" she asked just as confused as everybody else. Then Draco got what was happening.

"Oh yes! I'm his nephew, I'm sorry I had a moment right there." He laughed, as Sidnee nodded her head like it was obvious. Then she curtsied and heading behind them to the visitor's room.

"Nathan, hurry up and see your _uncle_." Dumbledore said as a group of healers passed them by. "We'll wait on the ground floor for you. Make this visit quick!"

"I will Dumbledore." Draco murmured, then he took off as fast as he could to the first floor, as Dumbledore, Harry, Hermione, and Taylor headed to the ground level.

While walking down the hall on the ground level something caught Harry's eye. Professor Lockhart. He leaned into Hermione and whispered. " 'Mione, look that's Lockhart."

She turned her head to see a confused Lockhart roaming the halls, and then she turned to Dumbledore. "Professor, we'll be right back." Dumbledore nodded, then continued his way to the lobby.

Harry and Hermione walked over to Lockhart who smiled up at them. "Why hello there!" he greeted cheerfully. "Who are you?"

"I'm Trent Whilde, and this is my wife Josie Whilde, and this is our daughter Taylor Whilde." Harry said introducing the Whilde family.

"Hello! Do I know you?" Lockhart asked, still having his big toothy grin plastered on his perfect face.

"Um-." Harry started then a healer came up to them.

"I'm so sorry sir! Gilderoy must have wandered out of his room again. He's been doing that a lot lately. You see he lost his memory a couple years ago do to a faulty wand, and he hasn't recovered yet, and he doesn't have any family so he likes to meet the visitors in the hallway. I'll put him back in his room now." She said nervously taking Lockhart's arm and pulling him away.

Once they were out of sight, Hermione turned to Harry. "I know he tried to obliviate you and Ron, but I feel sorry for him. He's stuck in St. Mungo's with no one to visit him, and a slim chance of getting his memory back."

"Yeah, I know, maybe we can send him a gift on Christmas." Harry suggested putting his arm around Hermione's shoulders. The two started to walk again when they heard their fake names being called from behind them.

"Nathan! Josie!" Draco called bounding towards them with his Apache cloak on and his hood thrown over his head… wait- what! "Guys! The potion wore off and it looks like it's starting to wear off you!" he said panicking pointing towards them.

Harry and Hermione looked down and sure enough their clothes had changed back into their Apache robes, and Harry could see his vision getting blurry again, so he quickly grabbed his glasses out of his pocket and put them on. "Oh no!" Hermione gasped. Harry and Hermione threw their hoods over their heads and kept them down as the trio quickly got to the lobby to look for Dumbledore who was waiting by the big brass double doors.

Dumbledore saw them grabbed Hermione's arm while Harry and Draco grabbed on to, Dumbledore was about to Apparate when a flash went off. Harry whipped his head around and saw someone took their picture, then Dumbledore apparated.

Harry stumbled a bit as he landed on the hard cement beneath him when they landed. Looking up he saw a series of apartments linked together. Nobody was out on the street in front of them, it was all quiet, with the exception of the people in the apartments, but they didn't seem to notice the six wizards that just appeared outside. Dumbledore looked both ways on the street and took out his wand he pointed it between apartments eleven and thirteen. Waving his wand around his head and pointing it between the apartments, it started to expand, moving apart from each other. The people in the other apartments didn't seem to notice this as they continued on with their activities. Pretty soon a new apartment stood before them…Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

"Wicked." Draco whispered in awe.

Harry was speechless as he followed Dumbledore to the door. Knocking on it a few times a voice sounded from inside. "WHERE DID LILY AND JAMES POTTER MEET?"

Dumbledore kept his stern face on and yelled back. "HOGWARTS! 1971, FIRST YEAR!"

There was a shuffling sound from inside and the door swung open, Sirius Black stood before them gleaming. "Harry! You're here!"

"Yes well he might not be for long if he stays out in the open. Get in Potter!" Moody growled from behind Sirius pushing him out of the way for the wizards to enter the house. "How was your trip Albus?" Moody asked as they made their way down the long dark, dusty hallway.

"Fine for the most part Alastor. We may have had a little trouble when we left St. Mungo's. I believe someone took our picture when we were just about to leave because the children's potion wore off." Dumbledore answered shaking his head.

"Grrr, bloody Prophet!" Moody growled hobbling into the dining room they just entered.

In the room Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and a couple unfamiliar Aurors were seated around the table in a heated discussion, but when they caught sight of the group, they stood up acknowledging them.

"Professor Lupin!" Harry exclaimed happily. Lupin smiled and went up to Harry hugging him forcefully, Sirius joining the hug not long after.

"Harry it's been to long!" Sirius said smiling from ear to ear. "You wouldn't believe how boring it gets here." He whispered trying to make sure no one heard him, but someone did.

"Shut up Sirius! We're the ones doing work here, trying to protect Potter and take down Voldemort. What are you doing?" Moody asked snarky like.

"Well I'm busy listening in on your 'private conversations', ordering Kreacher around, sleeping, and eating." Sirius retaliated back not caring that he sounded like a seven year old.

"Hmph!" Moody grumbled taking a seat next to Shacklebolt.

"Both of you shut up… Please!" Tonks yelled throwing her hands up in the air. "How bout I'll take the students up to their rooms while you two calm down." She snapped.

"But I haven't talked with Harry yet!" Sirius whined.

"You can later tonight, cousin!" Tonks replied back pushing the students out of the door. "Sorry 'bout him Harry." Tonks said once they were going up the stairs out of earshot of anyone in the dining room. "He's been cooped up here for a while and he's getting antsy. He wants to go out and play, but he knows he can't because they haven't cleared his charges yet."

Harry nodded sadly. "But can I talk to him later?"

Tonks smiled. "Sure Harry! But I think all of you need to get your rest for now. Alright Harry, Draco your room is right here." She said pushing open a door. "Hermione, I'll show you to your room now." When the girls left Harry and Draco stepped fully into their room.

The walls were gray and dusty, much like the rest of the house, but there were two twin beds in it, two closets, and a blank portrait with _Phineas Nigellus Black_ engraved on the small plaque.

"Hmm." Draco sounded taking a whiff of the room, and scrunched up his nose. "Well I guess it could be worse."

All Harry did was nod his head as he set his shrunken trunk on his bed. Making his trunk bigger again he started to unpack some of his things. "I'm glad your dad is ok." Harry mumbled after a few minutes. Draco turned his head to Harry and smiled slightly.

"Hey, he wouldn't be alive without you. So… Thank you." He said softly placing Bella in his lap. Harry stared at the young girl for a moment. She had Draco's Hair and eyes while she had Ellie's body and cheekbones. She was definitely cute.

"Do you miss Ellie?" Harry asked.

Draco sighed. "I would be lying if I said I didn't. The thing is, I haven't asked her to be my girlfriend yet because after this year we'll be back in Hogwarts again, and I won't see her ever. So I'm afraid of asking her, she probably thinks we're friends." Draco murmured playing with Bella's hair with his fingers.

Harry sat on his bed facing his friend. "I think you should ask her. If you don't, you probably never will. And who knows perhaps after Hogwarts you can go back to California be with her. I just don't want to see you give up on her. Plus if you don't go after her Kyle might, I hear they used to date last year." Harry said smirking.

Draco looked like he just saw a horror movie. "I will not let that happen!" he proclaimed standing up. "I'll ask her as soon as we get back to Duraflame, and I will claim her as my own."

"Whoa there Draco! You two aren't married yet!" Harry chuckled lightly pushing Draco back on the bed.

"Exactly… yet!" Draco smirked.

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"HARRY! DRACO! HERMIONE! GET YOUR BUTT'S DOWN HERE!" Yelled a very angry Moody the next morning. Harry rubbed his eyes and yawned as he woke up to the alarm that is Moody.

"Ugh!" Draco moaned as his eyes remained closed, his mouth gaped open, and his arm hung off the bed. "What is it?" he asked annoyed throwing off his covers.

"I dunno, but it doesn't sound good." Harry said slipping on his robe and opening the door, where he and Draco exited.

The two boys hurried down the stairs as fast as they could for seven in the morning. "What is it Moody?" Draco wondered not happy for being woken up before he had to be.

"Look what was published this morning in the Prophet." He growled thrusting the paper in front of Harry, Draco, and Hermione who just entered the dining room. Harry smoothed out the front page and set it down on the table. The title of the article read…

"_**THE BOY WHO LIVED, AND THE SNAKE SNEAKING INTO ST. MUNGO'S FOR REVENGE"**_

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**Well that was a fast update for me, but an also shorter chapter. I don't know if I like the title for the newspaper cover yet, but I didn't know what to say, so I improvised. This chapter and last chapter, I put a little snippet of a woman spying on Harry. Can you guess who she is? And what she's doing? Please review and tell me! Thanks! You guys ROCK! –SR7**


	22. Happy Christmas

**Thanks for the reviews! Reviews make me smile in the morning (or whatever time I might get one) so you people are awesome and you deserve another chapter! So here ya go :) –SR7**

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"Wha- is going on down here?" Sirius shouted yawning as he stumbled down the stairs to where the trio and Moody were in anger about the Daily Prophet's article.

"Fudge still has people believing Potter is a dark lord or something. And now that Potter has been caught sneaking out of St. Mungo's with Malfoy, the public are convinced Potter is evil now." Moody grumbled.

"It sure doesn't feel inviting being called '_The Snake_'." Draco murmured taking a seat at the dining table.

"Well get used to it boy, most people are still thinking your in league with Voldemort. Fudge isn't making the situation any less stressful either." Moody added glaring at Draco with cold brown eyes.

Draco rolled his eyes then slumped in his seat. Then Kreacher, Sirius' mangy house elf came into the room. "Kreacher cleaned the Lou like Master requested." Kreacher grumbled throwing down his dirty rag in a bucket.

Sirius pierced his lips together. "Do you think I give a ogres butt what you do around here Kreacher? If you even do anything around here. Most times I catch you stashing my mothers worthless trash in your little nest, and speaking to her blasted portrait that _I_ always have to cover up again!" He yelled causing both Kreacher and Hermione to wince.

"Sirius!" Hermione scolded. "How dare you yell at a poor defenseless creature that way! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Sirius folded his arms together in an irritated way, then turning to Kreacher Hermione spoke. "Come on Kreacher, I'll take you away from this mean man." Hermione shot Sirius a look and led Kreacher out of the room.

Sirius turned to Harry with a What-Just-Happened look. "Sorry 'bout that Sirius. Hermione has become a bit obsessed with house elf rights, give her some time and she'll blow over." Harry reassured.

"Enough with this bloody House Elf business we have more important matters to deal with at the moment, now don't you think?" Moody asked, but not letting anyone have a chance of answering he continued. "So Albus left for Duraflame yesterday and Severus should stop by tomorrow to check in on the students, meanwhile the Mrs. Malfoy should be visiting today before she is joined by the hip of Voldemort. I'm sure people are going to want to go 'Christmas shopping' so we will need some more poly juice potion for that. Ugh I need some pain reliever potion!" Moody growled hobbling away to the kitchen.

"The man needs to calm down!" Sirius whispered taking a seat and sinking his teeth in a hot biscuit.

"No duh, captain obvious." Draco grumbled. Sirius stuck his tongue out at Draco who returned doing the same thing.

"Would you two please stop!" Hermione pleaded slamming her spoon down on the table frustrated.

Draco and Sirius glared at each other but both mumbled. "Yes Hermione." Softly.

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"Mum!" Draco yelled when Mrs. Malfoy stepped into Grimmauld place that afternoon. Sirius and Remus had to cover up Sirius' mum's portrait again since from all the racket, she woke up and started singing her dreadful tune.

"My little dragon!" Narcissa exclaimed back eloping Draco in a tight hug. "Oh how I missed you so much!" she whispered in his ear. Harry and Hermione were watching this exchange from the stairs that they followed Draco down. "How have you been? How's that wizarding school in California? Has the new dark lord tried to kill you yet?" She asked in a flurry of questions overwhelming herself.

Draco chuckled. "Calm down mum, I'll tell you all about my life in a bit, right now I think you should sit down and have a cup of tea. I don't want you to stress yourself."

Narcissa gave Draco a small smile. "Honey, I passed stressing myself a long time ago, when we took the post as spies for Dumbledore."

Draco returned the small smile then led his mother into the sitting room. Hermione smiled at them as they left. "Awwww, Harry isn't that cute?" she asked clinging onto his arm happily.

Harry smirked at her. "Yeah it is. How bout we leave them alone to catch up while we go ask Remus and Tonks to go take us Christmas shopping." Harry suggested snaking his arm around her waist and walking them down the rest of the stairs.

"Oh Harry!" she exclaimed. "Usually I'm not a 'shopper' but I saw the perfect thing to get you when we passed through Diagon Alley the other day."

"Alright then it's settled." Harry said. "Let's go talk to Remus and Tonks."

"You two drink this." Moody growled handing both Harry and Hermione a flask once they asked Lupin and Tonks to take them out. "The people you will turn into are the same people you were when you went to St. Mungo's with Dumbledore. Remember, Harry your Trent Whilde and Hermione your Josie Whilde. The potion will last for two hours this time, remember your objective is to get in buy your little gifts, then get out. Remus and Nymphadora will each go with either one of you, if you choose to go separate ways." Moody explained watching as Harry transformed into Trent, and Hermione transformed into Josie.

Harry looked down at himself and noticed he was wearing the same clothes he wore to St. Mungo's. A red v-neck shirt, jeans, a black leather jacket, and he didn't need glasses now so he stuffed them into his pocket. Hermione was also wearing her same clothes. The navy blue strapless dress, black leggings, black boots, tan business looking jacket, and leaf earrings.

At that moment Lupin and Tonks walked into the room with the wands ready. "You two ready to go?" Tonks asked happily.

"Yeah." Harry and Hermione mumbled together, and then each person taking a hand the four of them apparated to the _Leaky Cauldron_. "Good Afternoon Tom." Tonks greeted the bartender once they appeared in the small pub.

Tom looked up and smiled at the four people who just entered. "Why 'ello Tonks, Lupin. Who's that you go' with ya?" Tom asked pointing his dirty finger towards Harry and Hermione.

"Tom this is Trent and Josie Whilde. They are from America and they just moved here so Tonks and me are showing them around the British wizarding world. I hope you don't mind us passing through, but we need to do a little Christmas shopping." Lupin explained flawlessly.

Tom stared at Harry and Hermione for a second through glinted eyes then they softened. "Well alright, Remus make sure you pass through here again on Christmas now. Buh bye now!" he said cheerfully, "and Happy Christmas to all of you!" he shouted as they made their way to the brick wall that would lead them into Diagon Alley.

"Now I think we should split up, Tonks you go with Hermione, and Harry you'll come with me. Let's all meet up in front of Ollivander's when we are finished." Lupin said as they stared walking down the narrow road.

"Alright!" Tonks exclaimed. "Come on Hermione, there is a shop over there that I want to take you!" before Hermione got a chance to respond, Tonks started dragging her against her will towards an old shop on the left hand of the road.

Lupin chuckled as he watched Tonks go. "Special one isn't she?" he mused.

Harry looked at Lupin who now was the same height as him. "Wait, do you and Tonks have something going on?" he asked amused.

Lupin looked nervous all of a sudden, then he turned to a curious Harry/Trent. "Yeah, I guess we do. I asked her out a couple weeks ago, and it kind of just went off from there. But lets not shine all the blame on me! I hear you finally asked Hermione to be your little girl friend the last time I saw you. How's that going so far?" Lupin asked.

Harry plastered a goofy grin on his face. "Well we're taking it pretty slow, but I'm happy, we're happy." The two men were silent for a moment while Harry thought. "Hey Lupin?" he finally asked.

"Hmm?" he acknowledged staring in front of himself towards the road.

"Do you think it would be crazy if someday I ask Hermione to marry me?" Harry asked truthfully. This question caught Lupin off guard cause when he whipped his head around to look at Harry he ran into an owl cage that has hanging in front of a shop.

"A proposal!" Lupin squeaked as he held his throbbing forehead.

"Well not right now! I mean like someday, probably after Hogwarts." Harry reasoned.

"Are you really this serious about her?" Lupin asked softly.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, I love her. I haven't told her that yet, but I'm planning to soon." Lupin smiled then silently directed Harry into a jewelry shop. "Lupin what are we doing in here?"

Lupin ignored Harry and went up to the pawn man behind the counter. "Sir, my friend here is planning to propose to his girlfriend in a couple years, do you have one of your _special _jewelry pieces he can give her this Christmas?"

The pawn man grinned but Harry noticed he was missing a few teeth. "A girly friend, hmmm?" he asked slyly. "Are you sure you two are going to be together still by the time you want to propose?"

Harry all of a sudden felt embarrassed, he could feel his cheeks getting hot, and his neck getting sweaty as the man stared him down with his pale blue eyes. "I'm sure!" Harry squeaked. The pawn man cackled then he disappeared in the back room. "Lupin what are you doing?" Harry whispered/yelled.

Lupin smiled. "Just you wait and see, boy." Feeling nauseous Harry took a seat on a stool by a collection of wedding rings.

Why did Lupin have to meddle in this? Well he is a marauder after all but still, he's supposed to be the reasonable one of the group! Harry felt his stomach turning in knots. Why did he suddenly feel like barfing? Was this what love was like? Cause if it was Harry wouldn't try this for any other girl. Hermione was the one and the only one he would experience this feeling for. She was that special to him.

Finally the sleazy pawnshop man came out of the back room with two boxes in his hands. He set them down on the glass counter then he opened up the lids. Inside were a decent collection of bracelets in one box and necklaces in the other. Most of them were pretty extravagant looking and Harry knew Hermione wasn't an extravagant kind of girl, so he skipped over them. "Sir, what are these? I'm afraid my friend hasn't told me yet." Harry said glaring at Lupin.

The man smiled again and said. "These are part of my promise collection usually the boyfriend gives one of these to his girly friend before he wants to propose. You know, to promise each other to the other. When you present one of these to your girly friend you'll ask her if she wants to go steady with you. If she says yes she'll wear this around saving herself for you when you finally propose sometime in the future." The man explained pushing some of the choices towards Harry.

Harry nodded looking over the choices carefully. After quickly looking over the bracelets Harry skipped over to the necklaces. Scanning up and down the rows he finally laid eyes on a small heart shaped locket that was encrusted with emerald green diamonds, it was hung on a silver chain. Harry pointed at it. "That one. She'll like that one."

The man picket up the locket and studied it. "Ay, good choice lad. Your lady will surely love this. So the price comes out to 11 galleons. Will that be all today Sirs?" Harry paid the man his money.

"Yes sir, I think we will be-"

"Actually no sir, I think my friend here mentioned something about proposing to his girl friend. Do you have any engagement rings?" Harry said cutting Lupin off. Lupin looked horrified as Harry said this, his face growing as pale as a pure white sheet.

The pawnshop man grinned another ugly grin, then disappeared into the back room. When he was out of sight Lupin turned to Harry. "What the hell was that Harry?" he exclaimed angrily. "I'm not ready to propose to Tonks! Merlin, I'm not even ready to call her my girlfriend!"

"Well you blackmailed me into getting a promise necklace for Hermione so you have to get an engagement ring for Tonks! Lupin, I can tell you really like her. Just do it, your not going to be around forever." Harry explained coolly.

Lupin sighed controlling his anger. "Your right…in an annoying way. Oi Harry, your just like your father in so many ways. I'll do it. But we cannot tell Sirius about this. If I tell him before hand he might tell Tonks and ruin the whole surprise. If there is one thing you should know about your godfather, is that he cannot keep a bloody secret." Lupin warned.

Harry nodded. "Don't worry. I won't tell."

Lupin let out a deep breath then the man came back into the room with a box of diamond rings. "So who is the lucky girly your marrying?" the man asked as Lupin looked over the many, many rings.

"Nymphadora Tonks." Lupin answered in a monotone not taking his eyes off the rings.

The man looked impressed. "My, my there yes I've heard of her. Isn't she the one who can change her hair color and what not?"

"Yes." Lupin responded. Harry chuckled as Lupin was stressing over the many pieces of fine jewelry. Harry decided to walk around the shop as he did that. Shelves after shelf were filled with amazing glistening pieces of jewelry. Harry didn't think that this would ever capture his attention but once he was standing in the middle of it all he felt both anxious and happy. He took out the necklace he chose for Hermione out of the bag and stared at it. A beautiful locket that would look amazing on her, but the nagging annoying feeling of her not accepting it ran through his head. What if she didn't feel the same way? Harry thought.

Putting the locket back in the bag he trudged over to Lupin who finally picket out a ring that was a simple gold band with small diamonds encrusting the sides. Lupin paid for the ring then the two men said goodbye to the pawn man. "Are you feeling as anxious as I'm feeling?" Harry asked nervously.

Lupin just gulped and nodded. The two of them finished their shopping for the rest of their friends then they found Tonks and Hermione giggling like teenagers in front of Ollivander's, but once Harry thought about it. Hermione was a teenager and Tonks was one only six or seven years ago so it makes sense. "Did you boys find anything good today?" Hermione asked happily jumping up and hugging Harry.

Harry and Lupin exchanged nervous glances and forced themselves to nod and smile. Missing their awkwardness Tonks bounded up from her seat on the step and kissed Lupin's cheek her hair turning bright red as well as Lupin's face turning the same shade. "I think we should head out now before the children's potion wears off." Tonks said grabbing her bags.

"Yup!" Lupin screeched.

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"There you are! You guys were out a long time. You forced me to spend time with my uncle Sirius here." Draco said as soon as the group walked through the door. Sirius glared at him from behind.

"Hush up Draco." He spat.

Harry and Hermione laughed at Sirius' and Draco's bickering. "You two are more a like then you think." Hermione said setting down her bags on the dining table.

"Are not!" they said simultaneously.

"Oh yeah. No relativity there." Harry said sarcastically.

Unfortunately neither Sirius nor Draco got the joke. "See Harry agrees with us!" Sirius exclaimed grabbing Harry's shoulders and bringing him towards himself and Draco. Lupin, Tonks, and Hermione exchanged looks and laughed.

"Alright what's so funny?" Draco demanded. The group didn't listen to him and left the room to put their gifts into their rooms.

Draco followed Harry up to their room. "So mate, how was your visit with your mum?" Harry asked placing the gifts on his bed.

Draco's face brightened up. "Excellent! We had a great conversation. I told her about Ellie, and she met Bella. She loved them. I told her about my new friendships with people NOT in Slytherin. It was great. She was totally excepting of everything. Sadly she had to leave early on Voldemort's orders though, because he realized she was missing." Draco sad sadly as he remember the last part. "So anyway what did you get Hermione for Christmas?" he asked changing the subject.

Harry stopped rifling through his things, and hesitated. "Um- it's, uh- surprise." He mumbled.

Draco stared him down. "Alright Harry, I'm not four years old. What did you get her?"

Harry sighed then took the bag out that was labeled _Lester's Pawnshop_. He handed the bag over to Draco and stepped back waiting for the impact.

Draco looked in the bag and opened the small box that had the locket in it. "Holy Connolly!" he exclaimed. "What the heck is this?"

Harry scratched the back of his neck. "A uh- promise locket." He mumbled.

Draco lifted his head up with a stupid smile cemented on his face. "Is this serious?" he asked quietly but meaningfully.

"Yeah." Harry muttered.

Draco smiled even wider then snatched his wand off his dresser. Pointing it at the open locket he muttered some spell Harry didn't recognize then the whole locket lit up for a couple seconds before going back to it's original state. "There you go mate. Your welcome." Draco said in a cocky tone.

Harry opened the locket up and inside was two pictures on one side of the locket was a picture of Harry and Hermione in their first year laughing by the black lake. And the second picture was the two of them this year at Duraflame smiling on the beach with Taylor in Harry's arms. Harry smiled at this. "Thanks mate!" he choked out.

"Anytime." Draco responded.

That night when everyone was seated waiting for Kreacher to bring out dinner, something Hermione was against, Sirius' mum's portrait opened and she started to sing her awful song. "What now?" Sirius yelled jumping up from his seat and storming towards the front door.

Everybody waited until Sirius returned but he had Snape gliding behind him. "Snivellus is here for Harry and Draco." Sirius spat sourfully.

"I would watch your tongue Black!" Snape spat back. "I am here to check up on the students and deliver a message for the H.A. leaders from Mr. Cody Beck and Mr. Seamus Finnegan." Snape delivered.

"Uh- you can tell us in the library." Draco said getting up and grabbing Snape's right arm leading him out of the dining area, Harry following behind.

"So what's the message?" Harry asked as he and Draco sat down on the couch and Snape sat down on the regal chair.

Snape twiddled with his fingers for a while then he spoke. "Beck wants you two to know that the H.A. is running smoothly. They have gotten one new recruit, Miss Grace West (Cody's partner in the home ec class). Miss Weasley has some paper work for Miss Granger to see, but she will have to see that when you three return to Duraflame." Snape answered.

"And what did Seamus say?" Draco asked a little afraid.

"He said that it was a message between good friends." Snape started, while Harry and Draco rolled their eyes at Seamus' forwardness. "Apparently he heard a Professor talking about stalking Potter. Mr. Finnegan was supposed to be in bed that night but he snuck out and overheard a conversation in an abandoned classroom between a man and a woman. He described the Man to have a pale face with a red gash going diagonal across it; he was also wearing dark black cloaks and a hood thrown over his head. The woman he described as 'creepy'. She was also in dark black cloaks but she had Auburn red flowing hair. She spoke cleanly, but evilly." Snape said darkly looking like he was about to destroy the room with his wand.

Harry thought for a second. There was that creepy woman at St. Mungo's who was staring at him. Maybe she was the lady Seamus was trying to describe. "Professor?" Harry addressed. "There was a woman at St. Mungo's who was staring at me pretty intently when we were in the visitor's room. She wore a black cloak but I couldn't see her face underneath her hood she was wearing. Do you think it's the same lady?"

"That, or you may have some stalking fan girl. But that would never happen, so yes it most likely is that woman." Snape sneered.

Harry felt really uncomfortable now. But was the lady who he thought the lady was? The answer was most likely a yes but still. You always wonder about these things. "Well thank you for the messages Professor, but I think you should leave before Sirius throws another fit." Harry said in a rush standing up.

"Wait Potter!" Snape drawled. "Professor Dunn told me about your wanting to learn Occlumency. I will have you know that I will teach you when you get back when term starts but you will do it under my terms. When people ask where you are going at 8:00 every night, you are to say you are serving detention with me. Understood?" Snape spat.

Harry felt his fist curl up. "Yes Professor." He seethed.

Snape glared at him one last time then he glided out of the room and out of the house. Draco patted Harry's shoulders then went back to the awaiting feast.

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"Harry wake up! It's Christmas time!" Sirius yelled jumping on Harry's bed Christmas day. Then he got off and got on Draco's bed. "Wake up you cunning snake nephew of mine. It's Christmas! Get your butts down stairs I want to open Christmas presents!" Sirius exclaimed like a little child being presented with a huge chocolate bar. Then he leapt out of the room and bounded down the stairs probably to go yell in Moody's face to get a life.

"How are we related?" Draco groaned placing a pillow over his head.

"I don't know." Harry grumbled truthfully.

"What's your problem this morning?" Draco asked sensing false moods in the room.

Harry put his head in his hands. Today he was supposed to present Hermione with the locket and he was as nervous as Neville was whenever he saw Snape. The same thoughts were running through his head. What if she rejects me? What if she doesn't like it? Ugh! These were annoying feelings to deal with. "I'm just nervous, that's all." Harry murmured finally.

Draco got up and sat next to Harry on his bed. Before Harry got the chance to sit up fully Draco hit the side of his head hard. Like a bullet went through your side hard. "MAN UP!" Draco yelled. "YOUR HARRY BLOODY POTTER! YOU STOOD UP TO THE BASILISK AND VOLDEMORT, SO DON'T TELL ME YOU CAN'T STAND UP TO HERMIONE, THE GIRL YOU LOVE!" he screamed standing over a withering Harry on the ground.

"Ok! I'm sorry!" Harry yelled back holding his bright red cheek. "But thanks mate, I think I needed that."

"Duh you did!" Draco exclaimed like it was obvious. "Now come on! Let's go tackle down my uncle, your godfather." Draco said dragging Harry out of their room.

They caught Sirius dancing around on the table with Kreacher who he was actually getting along with, so after a couple pictures they finally brought down Sirius and tied him down to a chair in front of the Christmas tree. Soon Lupin, Tonks, Moody, and Hermione arrived ready for the presents.

"AH! I can't wait to open presents!" Tonks exclaimed giddily.

Draco leaned over to Harry. "Ok, I can see how they're related." He said pointing at the two over excited cousins.

Harry and Lupin exchanged equally nervous glances throughout the whole opening presents time. They would present their gifts to Hermione and Tonks last. Harry gave Draco a brand new _Firebolt_, which he couldn't thank Harry enough for. He also gave Sirius multiply items from Weasley Wizard Wheezes something that should keep Sirius occupied for a while. He gave Lupin a few books on updated defense spells, and he gave Tonks a bracelet that was also a voice recorder. Then Harry, Draco, and Hermione all gave Moody a mechanical eye cleaning set.

Harry received a signed poster of the Chundley Cannons from Draco, a scrapbook of the last five years from Hermione, a few books on Quidditch and defense spells from Sirius and Lupin, and a bunch of different candy from Tonks. When everyone was enjoying all their gifts they got Harry grabbed the box with the locket in it and nervously stood in front of Hermione.

"Hey 'Mione?" Harry asked softly getting on one knee.

Hermione looked surprised from this gesture and stared at Harry with big chocolate brown filled eyes. "What are you doing Harry?" She asked carefully.

Harry took a deep breath and opened the lid to the box up. "Hermione? Will you go steady with me?" Harry closed his eyes ready for the rejection, but he never got it.

Instead, Hermione screamed and took the box from his hands. "Yes Harry! Of course! Yes! Yes! Yes!" she took the locket out of the box and put it around her neck. Then smiling down at Harry attacked Harry and kissed him passionately.

The room was filled with 'Awes!' as Hermione lifted her head up from Harry's lips and whispered, "Thanks Harry." Harry smiled relived then helped Hermione up so they were both sitting on the couch again. Hermione was busy admiring her new locket when Lupin cleared his throat.

"Excuse me! I have something I have to say." Harry could sense the nervous wreck Lupin was feeling inside as he uttered each word. Then Lupin took a confused Tonks hand and kneeled down. The whole room gasped. "Nymphadora Tonks, I know we haven't been dating for a long time, but thanks to a friend I realized I couldn't be with anyone else. So Tonks, will you marry me?" Lupin asked holding up the ring he got at _Lester's_.

Tonks was speechless (for once) as she stared down at Lupin and the ring he held. She started to tear up. "Oh Remus!" she gasped. "Yes! Yes! A million times yes!" the whole room broke out in applaud as the couple shared a sweet kiss.

"Oi, I must admit this is the best Christmas I've had in a long time." Moody admitted bobbing his head to the side.

Harry stared at Draco who was silent sitting on Hermione's other side. "Hey mate." Harry called; Draco lifted his head up to his friend. "When we get back to Duraflame you should really talk to Ellie about some things." Harry said hinting his sentence.

Draco smiled. "Yeah, I think I will."

"Oh Harry!" Hermione exclaimed once she saw what was inside the locket. "Your honestly the best man any girl can ever ask for!" She said as Harry put his arm around her and pulled her close.

"Happy Christmas Hermione."

"Happy Christmas Harry."

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**Ta da! And that was chapter 22 :). I think I really liked how Harry and Lupin were both nervous about their whole predicament. Please, Please, Please review and tell me what ya think of this chapter. It would mean a lot to me… Thanks for reading! –SR7 **

**(P.S. this story has a few more chapters to go so stay tuned.)**


	23. The Rebellion Begins

**What's up? I'm back with another chapter for you! I want to say thank you to those who reviewed last chapter, you really put a smile on my face :). So please continue reading **_**Harry Potter and America**_**! Thanks! –SR7**

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The rest of the week went by smoothly. Lucius finally was released from St. Mungo's so he got to come to Grimmauld Place to stay. Draco was overjoyed at this and spent all of his free time with his father. Lupin and Tonks were also very happy and decided to have a small wedding inviting only close friends and family, they also decided to have it during the summer so the students could attend. Harry and Hermione were very content with how things were playing out between them, every now and then they would sneak secret smirks or looks at each other showing the other how much they loved them. Even Moody was in a pleasant mood, but that was until he was called to the Ministry for a search for a wizard who went missing. The only person who was grumpy was Sirius. Tonks tried to talk to him for Harry and only could guess that he was disappointed that Harry would be leaving soon. Harry tried to talk with him, reassuring him that he would be back in June, but Sirius refused to listen and locked himself up in his room. The only person who could get in was Kreacher but that would only happen if one of the others threatened him.

Finally the day that Harry, Hermione, and Draco leaving came upon them. Draco and his father had a tearful goodbye while Harry and Hermione said goodbye to Moody. After Harry did, he slowly walked up to a glum Sirius who finally came out of his room. "Sirius?" Harry addressed cautiously.

Sirius looked up at Harry with red bloodshot eyes. "I'm going to miss you Prongslet. I feel very fortunate that you and your friends came to visit me while you were here." Harry gave Sirius a small smile, and after a moment of silence Sirius continued. "You know those books I got you for Christmas wasn't your real present."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows together. "What do you mean Sirius?"

Sirius smiled and pulled out a purple velvet bag from his cloak. Then he stuck his hand in extracting a mirror. "This my godson, is a communication mirror. You can take it with you to Duraflame and talk to me through it. It won't show your reflection it will only show what its brother sees." Sirius explained.

Harry still looked confused. "I'm still lost."

"I have a mirror that looks exactly like this one, so whenever we want we can talk to each other from it. All you have to do is look in your mirror and request for me. Hopefully I'll have my mirror with me and talk to you right away. I figured this was a safer way to talk to each other then by floo or owl. Didn't you hear? Umbridge is intercepting everything! It's crazy." Sirius said shaking his head in disgust.

Harry nodded and extended his arm out to grab the mirror. "Thank you Sirius. I'll keep it safe."

"Good boy!" Sirius smiled winking at him.

"You coming Harry?" Lupin called from the front porch with Hermione, Draco, and Tonks behind him with their things all packed and their babies all bundled up.

"Yeah hold on!" Harry called back, and then he turned back to Sirius. "Take care."

Sirius smirked. "When do I never? Oh, and take care of Hermione and Taylor would ya? I just heard about what happened with Ron, and I don't want to hear the same thing happening with you."

"Don't worry _Padfoot_." Harry said embracing Sirius in a hug. "Bye." Harry said once he let go. Sirius waved back then closed the door behind Harry.

Once Harry was outside he noticed that Grimmauld Place was folding back into its hiding place. "You ready there Harry?" Tonks asked bringing her jacket closer to her since it started to snow.

"Yeah, lets go." Harry said halfheartedly taking one more glance at where Grimmauld Place used to stand. Turning back to the group Harry took hold of Hermione's arm and Draco's arm. Lupin counted down then they apparated out of London.

Feeling the familiar feeling of sand underneath him Harry opened his eyes to see that he was standing in front of the school on a patch of sand. It was cooler then he remembered it here and it was drizzling so Harry brought his hood up and ran towards the front of the school with the rest of the group. "Well this is it." Lupin announced once everyone was standing in the doorway of the castle. "I want all of you to stay safe, and finish your schooling. Remember Dumbledore is here to help you, as well as some of the Professor's so don't feel as if you have to do everything on your own. If we can, Tonks and I will visit to check up on you. So I guess this is it."

The trio all ran up and hugged Lupin and Tonks at the same time saying "bye" and "see you soon!" Then the group disbanded and Lupin and Tonks apparated out of Duraflame with a loud _snap!_

Harry sighed and turned around to the deserted corridor. "You know this place seems like a ghost town." Draco mentioned as the trio walked through the halls and seeing no people or fire lighting up the corridors.

"I know it's… weird." Hermione said agreeing with Draco.

Harry craned his neck around trying to see if this was some kind of joke and someone was going to pop out of the shadows and yell SURPRISE! But no one did. You could almost hear the faint wind blowing around them. The pictures hanging on the walls were either fast asleep or gone. Harry found this weird cause it was only three o' clock in the afternoon, so people should be still awake and goofing off in the hallways. The trio continued their quiet pace through the castle not seeing one person or ghost in sight. When they got to Chief Wan, he was lazily leaning on his spear dosing off.

"Chief Wan?" Draco asked tapping his stomach.

Chief Wan gave a startled snort then 'shhhed' them. Draco rolled his eyes cause Wan was the one who pretty much screamed. "You three?" Wan said more confused then happy. "Where have you been? No one is supposed to leave their common rooms till five o' clock. What is the meaning of this?" Wan asked outraged.

"Chief, we just arrived. We were in London for two weeks. What is going on here?" Draco demanded gruffly.

Chief Wan glared at Draco then muttered. "Why don't you ask your friends?" Then without requesting a password from the trio, the Chief swung the portrait open so they could step into the Apache common room.

Inside most of the students from the Apache were sitting around not speaking; the other people must have been up in the dormitories. Harry's eyes widened as he saw exactly what everybody looked like. Most of the first, second, and third years had bruises on their faces and their arms. But the rest of the older students had cuts, bruises, broken bones, and so on. Everyone looked a mess, and then Harry saw Cody sitting in the corner with Seth. When Cody caught sight of the trio his face lit up.

"Harry! Hermione! Draco!" he shouted overjoyed. The rest of the students looked up from the nothing they were staring at, and their faces lit up to. "You three are back! Oh, I can't even begin to tell you how happy we all are to see you!" Cody then embraced all of them in a humungous hug. Hermione and Draco had to struggle in his grip, just so he didn't choke Taylor and Bella.

"Cody, what happened here? Nobody is in the corridors, and all of your faces and bodies are ruined. Wha- what is going on?" Harry asked sadly taking a step forward to get a better look at the rest of the students.

Cody's face faltered into a frown and went to sit by a really banged up Weasley twins. "It all happened a week after you three left. Lucifer and Pore sent some of their people into the school, and kicked out our professors. Dunn, Kelly, and Madam Pomfrey were kidnapped three days ago. Nobody has seen them since then. Three new professors took their places, but their working for Lucifer. Their names are August, Tanisha, and Rex they've been beating everybody for the tiniest mishap they do."

"Well why won't Heffner say anything about this? Surely he must know what's going on here." Hermione interjected, almost screaming at the poor blonde.

"Calm down Hermione. Anyway, Minister Wolf fired Heffner for no reason what so ever. And you would never guess whose the new Headmaster." Cody said glumly.

"Lucifer?" Harry asked.

"Close dude. It's actually Pore."

"That was my second guess." Harry pouted.

"Yeah, well Pore doesn't care how much those three beat us. He actually lets them do it whenever they want. We don't even have to do anything for them to randomly hex us out of a classroom. Yesterday August had it out for Ellie and took her into a private room and did the Cruciatus curse on her until she was barely breathing. Luckily Dumbledore snuck out of his office that night and saved her life, she would have died if he didn't." When Cody said this Draco's face washed over into true Horror.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

Cody pointed towards the girls' dormitories. "Sorry dude, but you know the rule. No boys up in the girls' rooms. Draco didn't care, so he quickly handed Harry, Bella. Then he took his wand and a mini Firebolt out of his pocket. In one swift motion he enlarged the broom and hopped on. Kicking off from the ground he raced up into the girls' dormitories.

"Wow he's smart." Seth whispered breaking the silence.

"Hmmm yeah." Cody mused. Then he turned back to Harry and Hermione. "Anyway I've tried to look over the H.A. as best as I could. It's been hard trying to commute to the H.Q. since we have people from different houses, and they don't have the privilege of having a secret portrait hole to the entrance of the H.Q. it's been hard. Plus Pore put out some new rules saying that, right after classes we're supposed to go straight to our common rooms, and stay there until a chaperone takes the whole house down to dinner. We're never without chaperones, so it's impossible to go anywhere. Actually I'm surprised you didn't run into anybody when you guys came up here."

Harry thought about what Cody just said. If it was true that Pore had this place guarded well, then why weren't there any professors out in the halls? It was completely empty when the trio was walking through it. "Hey Cody, what's been happening with the babies?"

Cody looked down at his hands sadly. "We're not allowed to see them. They have to stay with the nanny in our 'house' we are only allowed to be with them on Friday's when we have the home ec class." Harry's mouth hung open as he looked at Taylor and Bella.

"We have to do something about this now!" Harry roared losing his temper.

"Harry Potter." A little first year girl squeaked as she tugged on Harry's front robes softly and looking up at him with big sad brown eyes.

"What?" Harry asked simply, his expression softening as he looked down at the small eleven year old.

"Please stop those bad people from hurting me." She sniffed rubbing at some dry blood on her arm.

Harry knelt down so he was at her height. "What's your name?"

"Sophie." She whimpered.

Harry gave her a small smile. "Well Sophie, how would you like to help me take down Lucifer, personally?" he asked watching as her expression changed into a warm smile.

"Yes, I really want to!" she shouted.

Harry chuckled. "Well alright then. I think we need to get started." He stood back up and grasped her hand, but then a few other people came up to him.

"Potter, we would also like to join the rebellion. We offer our wands to you." A seventh year announced respectably bowing slightly, his two friends doing the same. Harry plastered a stunned face on and nodded at them.

All of a sudden every Apache in the room stood up. "We would also all like to join the rebellion, Potter." A sixth year girl spoke, speaking for everyone. "If you'll have us, we also offer you our wands." And then every person in the room held out their wands and bowed their heads.

Harry felt like someone just slapped him in the face. He just almost every Apache student step forward to fight Lucifer with him, and he didn't really have to say anything. "If all of you are 100% sure that your committed to this, then we will gladly except all of you into the H.A. Remember, you just made a promise to this team, so if you ever feel the need to break that promise, you will answer directly to me." Harry growled staring everyone in the eyes. But they all went unfazed by his intimidation and gladly accepted the rules. So Harry, Hermione, Cody, and all the original Apache H.A. members sat down and explained everything that had been going on so far, and where they stood currently.

After everything was properly explained Draco and Ellie came stumbling down the stairs. Draco had his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Ellie's face was pale, bruised and had no life coming off of it like it used to. Her beautiful silky blonde hair was matted down in sweat and blood. Her skin was scrapped up and it was evident that she lost quiet a bit of blood. "Ellie!" Hermione yelled running up to her friend and embracing her, Ellie barely clung onto her, seeing as she seemed to weak to bring her arms up.

"Hey mate you alright?" Harry asked Draco when they set Ellie down on the couch.

Draco let a tear escape and gave a slight nod. Then he picked up Bella and sat next to Ellie letting her stroke her baby's hair and skin.

"Time to go you ignorant scum's!" a voice yelled from behind them. Harry turned around to face a tall fat man with a scary face that also had yellow teeth. His clothes were completely black except for a single red bead that hung off his pants. He started to advance on the group that the rest of the Apache's were surrounding. "Well who be you three?" he asked viciously.

"None of your business Rex!" David yelled from behind Cody.

Rex whipped his head towards the Jewish boy. "Boy! You do know there is a penalty for bad mouthing a professor!" Rex spat maliciously. Then he brought his big calloused hand up and smacked it across David's cheek. David fell to his knees holding his cheek that was now spilling blood. Harry winced as he saw the hand being brought down on his friend's cheek. Then Rex turned around and started shouting. "Two lines single file behind me! No talking! Touching! Or giving each other looks. I'll be watching." Rex sneered.

Everyone quickly did as they were told and were then walking out of the portrait hole like robots. Harry and Draco secretly hid Bella and Taylor in their shirts so Rex couldn't see them, but they were being squirmy and it was making it hard to walked straight and still hold a little child in your shirt. When they arrived at the Dinner Hall all the other houses were there all eating simultaneously. No one was talking and all the Professors were eating their dinners to, but they looked extremely tense. Harry sat by Cody and David, and when Rex or any other Lucifer slave was not looking he quickly whispered. "That was really brave what you did earlier. Thank you."

David looked up at Harry and smiled and nodded. Taylor seemed like she was having another one of her hyper moments so Cody and David watched Harry's back as Harry quickly fed some food down his shirt to keep her quiet. Suddenly the doors swung open with a bang! In walked Seamus with an irritated Pore behind him. Seamus had the worst beatings to him that he's seen yet. Seamus seemed like he could barely move a muscle let alone walk. Pore pushed him roughly next to Kyle at the Pueblo table who patted his back softly. Harry looked at Seamus sympathetically. Seamus caught Harry's stare out of the corner of his eye and stared back with big sad eyes, then he swiftly went back to his food.

Pore must have noticed everyone paying attention to the new scars Seamus possessed so he spoke up, loudly. "THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS TO SOMEONE WHO DISSOBEYS DIRECT ORDERS. LIES ABOUT TEACHERS, ATTACKS TEACHERS, AND SPYS ON THEM PAST THEIR CURFEW MAY THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU ALL. FINNEGAN SAME TIME TOMORROW!" Pore yelled evilly. Seamus looked as though he was about to hurl.

"Pore might kill him if this keeps happening!" Hermione whispered from across the table. Harry nodded quickly then shoved a piece of bread nonchalantly down his shirt.

After a short dinner, Rex took them back up to the common room, where Harry and Draco quickly set their babies in their cribs for the night. When they came back down to the common room Snape was standing like a stick in the middle of the room waiting for Harry. Harry knew what was coming so when Hermione asked Snape why he was here he automatically answered. "I must take Potter to detention." Some of the people eyed Harry, but he chose to ignore them. "To the potions lab Potter!" Snape ordered pushing Harry forward.

Snape and Harry passed Rex on their way down, and after an evil smirk from Rex Harry and Snape disappeared into the safety of the potions lab.

"Professor can you tell me what's going on?" Harry asked pleadingly.

"No." Snape answered flatly.

"Fine." Harry mumbled annoyed.

"Your first lesson is to block me out when I try to intrude on your thoughts." Snape barked ignoring Harry's last remark. Harry nodded, and then Snape took out his wand. Doing a fancy wand movement Snape pointed his wand at Harry who fell to the floor in withering pain. Flashbacks of his childhood flashed before his eyes. Harry could feel Snape pressuring into his memories even more. As much as Harry tried to block him out he just couldn't. Soon flashbacks of him and Hermione flashed by, all their greatest moments together, then all of a sudden Harry dropped to his hands and Snape was standing before him again. "Tsk tsk Potter, you did not do that right at all."

Panting Harry stood up putting his weight on his right leg. "That was to powerful." Harry gasped glaring at Snape with hate in his eyes.

Snape scoffed. "The dark lord will not care if he goes to 'powerful' trying to get into your thoughts. You must learn to control it. Block me out!" Snape barked, then he thrusted his wand at Harry and yelled '_Legilimens'._

Harry through his head back in pain as Snape searched through his memories again. Doing every thing he thought to do, Harry tried to push Snape out. Unfortunately it didn't work. When Snape let go of the spell Harry again fell to the floor in pain. "Stop it!" Harry yelled. "It hurts!"

"Wednesday same time Potter. You need to get back to the Apache room before curfew officially hits." Snape said. Harry could see his expression soften as he stared Harry in the eyes.

Harry grunted and pulled himself up quickly leaving the potions lab. Harry passed Rex and one of the other Professors on his way back. Rex laughed at Harry, probably cause it looked like Snape just tortured him. Harry walked quickly passed trying to block the awful cackling out of his mind.

When he made it to the common room he fell onto the couch feeling his eyelids starting to droop. But no sleep was going to come to him, because the twins started shaking him roughly. "Harry!" they prodded.

"Wha-?" Harry mumbled.

"We need to plan for the rebellion duh!" Fred said like it was obvious. Harry tried to ignore Fred's puffy eye as he said this.

"Why right now?" Harry groaned.

"We need as much time as we can get. So that means right now! Hop to it man!" George said lifting Harry up. "Everyone is here ready to do this, as you can see." George pointed behind the couch where the rest of the Apache's were sitting down waiting for Harry to say something.

"Harry I know you might be exhausted right now, but we have to do this." Draco whispered getting up from the floor. Draco was the only one who knew that Harry was trying to learn Occlumency so he understood why Harry was in so much pain.

Harry nodded an exhausted nod then situated himself so he was facing everyone. "Alright, first we need to find a way for everyone to get to the H.Q. unnoticed by at least the new professors. Then we need a plan on where to attack Lucifer and his men, in order to save Dunn, Kelly, and Pomfrey."

"Wait so we really are going to attack them?" Cho asked softly staring at Harry intently.

"Of course we are. We have to. Now I want the people in Hermione's group to stay here in the common room. For those of you who just joined the H.A. you can choose to be part of Hermione's team which is war statistics, my team which is recruits, or Draco's team which is spying." The students nodded then waited for Harry to continue. _**(A/N: if you don't remember the teams, the reference is in chapter 19) **_"So like I was saying, Hermione's team stay here and keep working on war statistics. Draco's team and my own team will be sneaking out tonight to find a safe route to the H.Q. Not everyone can come with us but we will take a few new people."

"Can I come Harry?" Sophie asked craning her neck up to look at Harry.

Harry stared down at her. "Sure kid." He smiled and ruffled her hair a bit and waited for someone else to speak.

"We'll come also Harry." Two fourth year girls said standing up.

"Sure, what are your names?" Harry asked looking at the red head and the brunette.

"Sarah, and this is my friend Selena." The red head answered.

"Ok then this is good for now. Fred, George, Angelina, Cody, Seth, Ellie, Sophie, Sarah, and Selena. You all are coming with Draco and me. Hermione you sort out whom you want on your team. Everyone else, wait here." Harry ordered running up the dorm stairs. Getting to his room, he searched his trunk grabbing his invisibility cloak. Finding it, he raced back down the stairs. He duplicated it enough times for all the people in his group, and then they were off out of the portrait hole.

Chief Wan noticed his portrait swing open, but being on the Apache's side, he didn't alert the other portraits that students were escaping. Harry silently thanked him for it. They silently walked to the _Last Supper_ portrait and Harry whispered the password to portrait Jesus. He let them in without asking any questions so Harry led everyone into the tunnel. Waiting for a couple minutes Harry cautiously pushed the next portrait open. Hawk was in his same position of guarding the stairs as he was before. Harry quietly ushered everyone out then closed the portrait. They all inched along the wall like before, and Draco obliviated Hawk. Hawk fell on his face after Harry froze him. Then Fred and George stuffed him in the broom closet.

The team walked down the rest of the stairs and avoided two of the Duraflame ghosts. Then getting to the enchanted window Cody whispered _"Pro Agravis!"_ Each person stepped through the window and entered the H.Q. everyone threw their cloaks off and threw them in a heap on the ground.

"Now what?" Seth asked taking a seat on a plush pillow.

"So we know the only person blocking our way to here is Hawk, and we can easily get passed him. But what about the members from the other houses?" Angelina asked pacing in front of the tree house.

Harry sat down and put his head in his hands to think. "We need a way to get to the American Ministry and stop Lucifer from killing the minister and a whole bunch of other important wizards, and muggles." Harry said staring down at the grass.

"But how are we going to get there? The seventh years aren't certified to Apparate yet. Pore has his goons set up everywhere around the school so it's like impossible to sneak out. And not all of us are as skilled with spell work like you are Harry, or you Draco." Ellie said speaking up.

"Then we will have to lead the attack." Draco murmured looking at Harry, then back at Ellie. "I'm sure Luna could help us with an escape from this place, she seems like the type anyway. And I think a few lessons from us could help all of you to become better wands-men."

"Excuse me, Harry. I have a idea." Sophie squeaked tapping Harry's shoulder. Harry turned his attention towards her as well as everyone else. "What if the first, second, and third years stay at the castle while everyone else goes to D.C. We can distract the professors here. And keep them from getting to the aid of Lucifer; we can even probably get other houses to help us. The people who are already apart of this rebellion will of course go with you, but everyone else can stay here and fight." Sophie suggested with her big brown eyes boring into Harry's green ones.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Cody said speaking up. "We would have a better chance of defeating Lucifer if some of his best goons are not by his side. Good mind kid." Cody smiled winking at Sophie who blushed and hid her face behind Harry's arm.

"Ok, but what about the H.A. members from the other houses. How are we gonna tell them this information?" George asked. Then Harry got a light bulb over his head as he remembered Sirius' gift.

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"Sirius Black!" Harry whispered/shouted that night in the dorm room to the mirror Sirius had given him for Christmas. Cody, Draco, Seth, David, and Darrick were all huddled around Harry's bed waiting for Sirius' face to appear in the screen.

"Ello? Harry?" Sirius mumbled. "Kreacher put it down! Sorry 'bout that Kreacher has been on a stealing spree since you left. So why are you calling this early? You only left Grimmauld Place today." Sirius asked confused.

"I know that Sirius but I need you to do a favor for me." Harry answered quickly.

Sirius shrugged through the screen. "Sure Harry, what do you need?"

"I need three more communication mirrors. Can you send some over?" Harry asked impatiently.

Sirius looked suspicious. "Why would you need three more mirrors? What is this all about Harry? Tell me." Sirius demanded.

Harry grunted. "I'm sorry Sirius but I can't tell you. Just please send over three more mirrors it would mean a lot to me."

"Well alright then, but I still think you should tell me-"

"Thanks Sirius got to go! Bye!" Harry quickly tapped the mirror once with his wand and threw it to the foot of the bed.

"So we're going to give a mirror to a person from each house so we can keep contact with so none of Lucifer's goons notice." Darrick clarified. "Who are we gonna send them to?"

Harry gave him a smirk. "Ginny, Blaise, and Seamus. They can be trusted with one, so what we'll do is when Sirius sends over the mirrors. We'll have to wrap em up again and resend them to Ginny, Blaise, and Seamus. That way we won't have to worry about getting caught in the halls at midnight trying to pass them along."

"But how will they know what it is?" Seth asked making a good point.

"We can send a note attached to it." Draco suggested.

"Or once we get the mirrors, we can engrave the message into the back so once of the interceptors won't notice it." Cody suggested smiling.

"I like it." Harry grinned. Then Taylor started to scream.

"Ahhhh! Harry shut her up! If one of Lucifer's goons hears her they might do something terrible!" David shouted holding his ears.

Harry quickly jumped off his bed and ran to Taylor picking her up and patting her back. She finally let out a burp and settled down, but it was to late, the boys heard someone rushing up the staircase towards their dorm. Quickly Harry took Taylor and Bella and hid them under his bed throwing the invisibility cloak over them. Then Rex busted through the door.

"I heard screaming and I wasn't the one causing it!" he snarled.

"We didn't hear anything sir." Seth uttered standing in a military stance.

"I'll just have to check now won't I?" he sneered taking out his wand and creeping around the room. Rex eyed everything and soon his eyes lay on Harry's bed. Harry and Draco held their breath and Harry could feel himself starting to sweat out of nervousness. "What's this?" Rex said more as a statement then a question. He grabbed onto something under the bed and pulled out Taylor holding her by the ankle. She started crying and throwing her self around trying to get out of Rex's grip. Rex reached under the bed again and took Bella out holding her by the arm. "You thought you could hide two babies from me?" he shouted. "Well I see, hear, and smell everything. I'll just take them to the nanny where they will stay. And you six will be sent to detention with Tanisha. There she will determine your proper punishment." He snarled, and then he whipped himself around and stomped out of the room holding two screaming little baby girls.

Draco was about to rush after him when Cody and Seth held him back. "Don't, he won't listen to you anyway." Cody warned.

Draco broke down to his knees and let tears fall freely down his cheeks. Harry did the same next to Draco, both boys just staring at the spot where Rex took off. "That's it. We start our plan to escape tomorrow." Harry whispered anger filling up everything in his body. "And no one is going to stop us."

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**Well their back at Duraflame now, and trust me nothing is going well at all. But this definitely isn't the end and these students absolutely don't plan on staying at Duraflame much longer. Next chapter will be the escape; I'll try to make it a little longer if I can. So you know what to do, please review ;). Thanks for reading! –SR7**


	24. The Great Escape

**Hiya peoples! Yup I'm back, and school has started sadly, so I might be limited for when I update this story :(. But let's not worry about that right now! First I want to dedicate this chapter to one of my awesome readers….**_** HorseLoverForever2000! **_**Thank you so much for your P.M. message to me about the O.C. Jack and Mary are coming into this chapter, and will stay until the story is over. So please continue on and find out what happens next. :) Thanks! –SR7**

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Two days, two long agonizing days went by. Rex had become even crueler to the students and August and Tanisha weren't any better. The old professors did their best to try to protect the students, but they fell powerless, and after their class, they were locked in a special room unable to get out. Dumbledore kept pacing the halls with dark circles under his eyes. He was the only one Pore and his men feared, but even Harry could tell that Dumbledore was getting weak but he still did everything he could for the children to keep them somewhat safe.

Harry and Draco hadn't seen Taylor and Bella since Rex forcefully took them from the ground that one night, the sad thing was, they couldn't even sneak a visit to them. The passageways were all heavily guarded and impossible to outsmart.

Duraflame become dark, gloomy, and drab. It almost seemed as she had given up to Lucifer and his power. An old legend once said that the castle to a magic school was alive and could send messages mentally to a person just by a feeling. Harry had to admit that when Lucifer wasn't in control of Duraflame, she was more buoyant and colorful, even playful. But now, he couldn't feel more alone even with his friends and strangers surrounding him.

Harry just had his second beating of the day when Tanisha sent the fifth years to lunch. There was a throbbing in his head making his scar burn, Snape kept saying that he needed to finish his Occlumency lessons, but Harry knew when there was a limit, and that limit had reached him long ago.

He held his scar as he trudged through the halls behind Neville to the Dinner hall. He sat down in his assigned seat next to Cody and David, and robotically ate his slop that Pore insisted on serving the students. Draco sat at his assigned seat by Fred and Angelina, while Hermione sat across from Harry by Sophie and Cho.

Harry could feel his eyelids starting to droop and his arm getting weaker, and right before he face planted into his slop. Cody elbowed him in the gut to wake up. "Hang in there, dude." He whispered.

"Attention students!" Pore announced walking up to the front of the staff table like he owned the place. "I just want to remind you that after your afternoon classes today, you will each individually come to my office to receive your food rations for the night."

The students groaned and even some of the cocky ones booed him.

Pore ignored them and continued on with his speech. "There of course will be no dinner tonight because it is professors night out. So no one is to leave their common rooms, or else the punishments will be severe. I will have the ghosts patrolling the grounds and the corridors in case some idiots choose to escape. That will be all." Pore said smiling and swiftly walking back to his seat.

McGonagall gave Pore the death glare, that she only gave out when she is pissed. And then the doors swung open and Rex stepped in with Hagrid, chained by the neck behind him. "My lord, the mutant is properly chained as you requested now what shall I do with him?" Rex sneered. Harry stared Hagrid in the eyes, sad eyes to even sadder eyes.

Pore looked bored as he looked across the room to where Rex and Hagrid were standing. "Chain him up in the forest, no one should find him there." Pore groaned rolling his eyes.

Rex bowed. "Yes my lord."

Then Rex tugged on the chains and Hagrid let out a loud moan, and then was forced to follow the big wizard out the door. Hermione cupped her hand to her mouth as she gasped and let tears freely fall down her cheeks. "Hagrid!" she whispered in disbelief.

Harry clenched his fists under the table as he watched tall idiot torture machine drag his friend away to isolation. He then turned darkly to Pore who sat there lazily flicking the candle nearest to himself on and off with his wand.

After dinner August took the Apache's up to there common room instead of Rex since he was still out with Hagrid. He ushered everyone into the common room and then slammed the portrait on Seth's back, who was unfortunately the last in the line.

"I don't think I can take anymore of this crap!" Cody seethed pounding the wall with his knuckles, causing them to bleed.

"I know." Ellie said trying to calm down her brother.

"Well what are we going to do about it?" Draco asked. "We're basically in a prison. The Warden is watching our every move, what can do?"

"We can try." Hermione said sitting next to Draco on the couch.

"The thing is 'Mione, even if we do find a way to escape, we can't leave the rest of the houses here, while only Apache escapes. It's not fair to them." Harry explained pacing in front of the fireplace.

Hermione sighed then leaned back into the cushions. "I just wish there was a way." She whispered sounding disappointed.

Draco patted her back lightly, and then Fred and George stood up. "Well if you lot are going to sit around here moping, that's fine, but me and Fred our going to escape this new hell hole. Now if you will excuse us we will be in our dorm discussing things." George snapped lifting his head high as he and Fred walked up the spiral staircase.

The room sat in an awkward silence once the twins left. Nobody moved as they either stared at Harry, or a wall. Then suddenly there was a tap on the window. Hedwig and two other unfamiliar owls sat outside the glass soaked in water with a big brown package. Once Harry opened the window and grabbed the box the two strange brown owls flew off, but Hedwig jumped inside shaking off.

Cody, Draco, Seth, Darrick, and David huddled around Harry waiting to see if the package was what they thought it was. Harry carefully ripped the paper off, and inside was three new mirrors with a note attached to the first one.

"_Dear Harry…_" Harry read aloud.

"_I got you what you requested, they are three new state of the art 'mirrors'. Please take care of them, for they are highly fragile. I still want to know what your up to, and don't think your getting off so easily because I sent you what you wanted. Please contact me soon._

_-Padfoot"_

"This is great!" Cody gasped grabbing one of the mirrors and examining it.

"Yeah now all we have to do is engrave the message on the back so Seamus, Ginny, and Blaise know what it is." Draco said also grabbing one of the mirrors.

"Alright then, lets go do that up in our dorm." Harry announced already walking towards the stairs. The five other boys trailed behind him excited for the first time in a long time.

"So what exactly are we going to say?" David wondered aloud once all the boys were in the dorm room and sitting down on the floor.

"I guess we can say it how it is. All you have to do is tap the surface of the mirror with your wand and say the name of the person your contacting. That should be pretty straight forward I guess." Harry said slightly unsure but ready to do it anyhow.

"You know what, let's just do that. Lets not make this more complicated than it needs to be." Draco moaned holding his head.

All of a sudden Seth's hand shot up like a rocket and he started bouncing up and down. "Can I write the message down?" He practically yelled.

"Ok?" Harry said cautiously handing Seth the three mirrors.

Seth let out a small squeak then he took his wand out and started carving the messages into the backs of the mirrors. Draco rolled his eyes at Seth's excitement and plopped down face first onto his bed. There was a knock on their door suddenly, that made everyone's heads shoot up frightened.

"Harry? You in there?" The voice said from the other side of the door.

"Yeah? Hermione, is that you?" Harry answered back standing up and heading towards the door. He opened it to find Hermione standing there awkwardly holding her hands behind her back.

"Sorry to disrupt you Harry, I just wanted to say good night to you." Hermione replied softly staring him straight in the eyes; brown eyes boring down into green.

Harry smiled and pulled Hermione closer so they were barely an inch apart. Then he whispered. "G' night 'Mione." Then he closed the gap between them and pressed his lips against hers. Her lips were soft and the kiss was sweet, finally Hermione broke apart from the kiss and smiled at Harry.

"Good night Harry." With that said she left the doorway and headed towards the fifth year girls dorm room. Harry stared dazed after her when he heard a cough from behind him.

"Dude you are to lucky to have a girl like that. I want a girl like that!" Cody whined while Darrick chuckled.

Harry blushed but didn't say anything more as he waited for Seth to finish. Once he was finished they tied one package onto Hedwig, one on a smoky colored owl, and the last one on a barn owl. Then they sent them off into the dreary night.

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"Ugh! When is the post gonna come?" Draco whined pounding the table with his fists the next morning at breakfast. Luckily Pore or Rex didn't see Draco's fit, so he didn't get scolded this time.

Harry looked back anxiously at the hole in the corner of the roof where the owls usually enter the school to bring the mail. He was sweating bullets. The same negative thoughts kept going through his head. What if the three owls were intercepted? What if someone found the messages on the backs of the mirrors? What if Pore or Rex takes the mirrors away from Seamus, Blaise, and Ginny once they arrive? Harry almost couldn't take these thoughts as he nervously brought his cup to his lips.

"Harry their they are!" Cody whispered from across him pointing towards the hole.

Harry turned back and saw a flurry of owls flying in with numerous packages and letters tied to their ankles, searching the room for their target. The boys watched Hedwig land by Seamus. He of course looked curious and sent a slight hesitant glance towards Harry, and then opened up the package. He took out the single mirror and examined it, when he finally flipped it over; his face lit up and then quickly shoved the mirror under his cloak.

Harry smiled at his friend, and then scanned the room for Ginny and Blaise. Both of them got the packages and both eventually turned them over to reveal the message. Each sent a glorious smile towards Harry, and then hid the mirrors under their cloaks.

"Phase one complete!" Seth announced triumphantly pumping his fist in the air.

"So what's next co-leaders?" David asked taking a bite reluctantly from his mush.

"Well, I think we need to talk to Luna. She can help us make up a plan to escape Duraflame. But I really don't want to talk to her alone, so Harry you have to come with me." Draco said shivering at the thought of having to talk to Luna alone.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine, but only because I agree with you about Luna helping us. But how are we going to talk to her?"

"The mirrors, Duh!" Darrick said catching Harry and Draco's attention. "Just call Blaise up and tell him to put Luna on tonight. Funny, I thought you would have thought about that."

Draco glared at the brunette. "Shut up Tanner." Draco spat.

"Both of you shut up!" Harry intervened rubbing his eyes out of annoyance.

"You know what. Whatever. We need to get to class anyway." Draco declared grumpily standing up from the table.

"Yeah, he's right. See ya mates!" Harry agreed standing up and waving goodbye to the four Apache's.

"I tell ya. Sometimes these American's are just outspoken." Draco huffed once they were out of the Dinner Hall, and out of earshot.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, but mate. I think they're proud of it." Draco shot him a look then they continued the rest of the way to Transfiguration in silence.

McGonagall was waiting in the front of the room, by the time they got there. Since Pore was the new headmaster at the school he changed the schedules a bit and made it so that only Hogwarts students could be in a class with each other, and only Duraflame students could be in classes together. Harry and Draco sat down at a double table and got their books out silently. There was an eerie silence in the room that Harry didn't like. The only noise was from McGonagall tapping her wand against the table sub consciously. Finally the room filled up with all the fifth years and McGonagall started the lesson.

"Today we will be turning a throw pillow into a comfy arm chair." She announced in her thick Scottish accent. "Partner up and say _luctus pulvinar_. I will grade you on how comfy and appealing your chair looks and feels. Now get to work." She snapped.

Harry and Draco both gave a go at their pillows and finally got them to turn into chairs, but Draco's turned into a rickety wood one, and Harry's turned into a plastic kid chair. The only one who got theirs completed perfectly was Hermione, of course.

"Swell job, Miss Granger. Because of your outstanding efforts I will allow everyone to visit until class is over." McGonagall winked to the class and then disappeared into her office.

"Awesome job Hermione!" Draco congratulated giving her a high five.

"Thanks Draco." She replied. Then Harry gave her a hug, and the three friends talked for a while with Seamus and Blaise telling them more about the mirrors.

Blaise agreed to pass the message along to Luna and then Rex threw open the door. "Class is over! Get to your common rooms, you imbeciles!"

Everyone quickly ran out the door and towards their designated common rooms. Harry, Hermione, and Draco were breathing hard by the time they got to the eighth floor. The chief looked at them amused and let them in with out requiring a password.

"I don't think I hate a guy more in this school then Rex." Draco growled plopping himself down on the couch.

"Tell me about it." Harry murmured setting his books down and then sitting himself down on a red chair.

"You want to play a game of wizards chess?" Draco asked finally after an awkward moment of silence.

"You sound like Ron." Harry groaned. "But we don't have anything better to do, so sure. Why not?"

"Cool." Draco replied flatly. Then called for the game board and pieces to be brought to them.

Hermione pierced her lips at Draco as a house elf popped into the room and handed him the board and game pieces then she announced. "I'm going to read over there." She pointed towards the corner of the room with the bookshelves and the sitting area that nobody went in besides Hermione.

"Whatever." Draco murmured, setting up his pawns.

Hermione grouched away from the boys and took a book randomly off the shelf and stuffed her face in it.

"You know you could be nicer to her." Harry said moving one of his pieces on the board.

"I could, but I choose not to, all the time." Draco replied simply.

Harry sighed but didn't bring the topic up again.

"Excuse me, your Harry Potter, right?" A feminine voice said behind him making Harry instantly turn around.

"Yeah. Who are you?" he asked eyeing the pretty girl. She had golden hair that went to her back, it was straightened and a clip was on the side of her hair keeping loose strands of hair out of her face. She had beautiful hazel eyes, and tan skin. She wore light shades of make up, silver dangling earrings, and dressed very sophisticated. She looked young, but then again she looked old.

"Oh sorry, I'm Mary Roodnitsky I'm in Gryffindor also. You probably don't know me well though because I'm sort of shy and don't like announcing myself. I decided to join your rebellion a week ago, and I just thought I should introduce myself. Well me and my boyfriend Jack; Jack, come over here." She called looking over her shoulder.

A tall boy with shaggy dark brown hair came over. He had deep hazel eyes, freckles, pale skin, and pretty muscular. Both students were of average height. He put his hand on Mary's back once he approached them. "Hello, I'm Jack Boerner. I'm Mary's boyfriend, I'm in Gryffindor also, and we're in fourth year. So a year behind you guys." He said with a big smile on his face.

Harry and Draco shook their hands and invited them to sit with them by the fire. "So you two have parents working in the Auror department?" Harry asked when Mary and Jack started talking about your personal lives. This subject especially interested Harry, since he wanted to become an Auror.

Mary giggled. "Yep. Jack and me know a lot to. We both know how to do a patronus mine is a graceful Mare, and Jack's is a Wild Stallion." She said with a smile. "We both know a lot about DADA, so we think we could be useful for your team. So will you accept us?" She asked hopefully.

Harry and Draco shared a quick look, and then turned back to Mary and Jack who were patiently waiting. "Sure, why not? If you can show us a bit of what you can do, we can consider putting you into the first group with us. Well once we escape anyway." Harry said. The couple beamed and thanked the boys thoroughly.

"Ok, we can show you our patronesses right now!" Mary squealed in delight grabbing Jack's hand and leading him into the open area of the room. Jack and Mary counted quietly then both shouted _"Expecto Patronum!"_ A beautiful mare and a radiant Stallion started galloping around the room brightly. The commotion caught the residents in the common room's attention and watched with wide eyes as the mare and the Stallion played with each other. Soon the patronesses faded out and the room erupted in applause.

Jack and Mary looked flustered but accepted the compliments anyway.

Draco grabbed Harry's shoulder and led him a couple feet away from the noise. "So what do you think? Cause I'll tell you right now, I like them." Draco smirked turning to look at the happy couple.

Harry nodded his head. "I really like them to. Do you think they should be in the front line with us?"

"They seem as if they can handle it, and you heard them. They've been training ever since they were two because of their parents. I say we let them in."

"Well then alright. Let's go tell them." Harry said putting his hand out, indicating for Draco to go ahead of him.

"Hey Boerner! Roodnitsky!" Draco shouted. Mary and Jack both jumped startled, and followed Draco's voice with wide eyes. "How would you two like to be in the front line with Harry, myself, Hermione, and a few other lucky peoples?"

Jack and Mary gasped delighted. "That would be amazing!" Mary flushed.

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy sir. And you to Mr. Potter!" Jack thanked, shaking both of the boys hands eagerly.

Harry chuckled. "Now that that's settled I say we head to our next class. Then after dinner we can try to get into contact with Luna."

"Let's do it!" Fred and George shouted. And the whole room cheered.

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That night Harry sat on the Apache couch with 100 other Apache students surrounding him. He held his mirror in his shaky hands, he felt a bit nervous, because right now they were going to find out if they were going to be escaping. It was a big moment for all of them. Finally Harry uttered. "Blaise Zabini, Serra house."

Suddenly Blaise's face came into view on the screen. "Harry, Draco! You guys called!" Blaise exclaimed acting surprised.

"Yeah, yeah Blaise. Would you put Luna on already?" Draco asked impatiently.

Blaise stuck his tongue out at Draco but handed to mirror over to the dreamy blonde. "Hello Apache's." she greeted.

"Sup Luna." The Duraflame's greeted back. The young girl smiled and waited for someone to speak.

"So Luna. We believe you can help us escape from here. Right?" Harry said stating it as if it was a question.

"Yes." She replied softly.

"Well great! Do you have a plan, or what?" Cody asked leaning over Harry's shoulder so Luna could see his face.

Luna giggled. "Yes, I do in fact. Is everybody up for it?" Harry scanned to back of the room at the people, seeing no one refusing he turned back to Luna and nodded. "Great! Well first off we have to get out of the school." She said. Harry and Draco nodded like that was obvious.

"And how are we going to do that exactly?" Hermione asked grabbing the mirror so it faced her.

"First we are going to have to knock all of Headmaster Pore's henchmen out. And I think Fred and George can help us there. If they can, can they make a knock out potion?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

Harry turned his head to face the twins, whose faces were lit up like the sun. "Tell Luna we are working on that right now!" George yelled as he and Fred raced up the staircase.

"They went to go make it." Harry said turning back to Luna.

"Ok then. Now we will need to send some of the smaller quieter people out to set the knock out bombs off. They can't be caught or else who knows what they will do to them. Is there anyone there willing to do this part of the mission?" Luna asked. Harry could see Blaise, Lavender, and Parvati in the background of Luna listening intently.

"We'll go." Sarah and Selena announced, the two fourth year girls who joined the rebellion.

"I will to!" Sophie yelled jumping up and down.

"Well these girls are going to need some men, so we will also go." Seth said standing next to David who was nodding.

"Great then, we have people." Harry exclaimed to Luna, who smiled warmly.

"So now that that's settled. We will have to get all of the houses ready to go out of here before morning. Some people of course will have to stay here, and fight. I think the Serra, Pueblo, and Cortez people who are not in the H.A. will be willing to do that. So when we all make it out outside. We will have to go into the forest, there we will find the thresteles."

"What are thresteles?" Harry asked.

"They are skeletal horses that fly. But only people, who have seen death, can see them. So Harry you can see them, since you saw Cedric die last June." Harry sent her a deathly glare but she ignored it. "And Draco, I'm sure you can see them to. I'm not so sure about the rest of you, but don't worry we can work it , we will ride them out of here. I was also thinking about freeing Hagrid while out there. Maybe he can make it back to the Order to warn them about what's happening." Luna suggested hopefully.

"Yeah that's great Luna, I like it." Harry answered in a rush.

"So once we leave California we will have a long journey to Washington D.C. since none of us can Apparate. I say pack light, and we will need to be separated into groups. So we're not all traveling in a clump. We're easier to spot if we do that. So Harry I'll leave that up to you to figure out the different groups. I have to go now curfew is about the start and August will kill me if he sees the mirror. But I'll have Blaise contact Ginny and Seamus so we can tell them about the plan, don't worry." Luna said in a rush obviously in a hurry.

"Thanks Luna for your time." Harry said waving. Then he tapped the screen once with his wand, and Luna disappeared from the view.

"Do you think this is going to work?" Hermione asked breaking the silence unfolding onto the room.

Harry put his arm around her and rubbed her back. "Don't worry 'Mione. We'll get this done. We're going to succeed doing this, and we're going to rescue Dunn, Kelly, and Madam Pomfrey." Harry reassured her, also trying to reassure himself.

"Alright everyone! You heard Luna, go and pack light. Get ready to run, fight and survive. I suggest jeans, a good shirt, a jacket, and sneakers. Have your wand out and ready, and bring a small bag with you with only your items that you must bring." Draco barked standing up and clapping his hands once for dramatic effect.

The group started murmuring all at once and rushing to get their things. "Harry I'll bring my enchanted bag that will hold the tents, water, medicine and so forth. You go get your stuff now!" Hermione exclaimed standing up pulling Harry up with her.

Harry nodded then ran to his room where his friends were all running around freaking out on what they should bring.

"No, that's not important enough!"

"But my Grandma got it for me last summer!"

"Does it look like I care?"

"Where's my underwear?"

"Underneath the chair!"

"Argh!"

"Dude! Don't trip!"

"Well sorry! But I'm in a hurry right now!"

This was all Harry heard as he stuffed his clothes, his invisibility cloak, the viola Odorata, and other necessities into his enchanted bag Hermione got him. Harry threw on some gray faded jeans, a black long sleeve shirt, black converse, a military jacket, and put his wand in his back pocket. Then headed down to the common room to help Draco pick the groups out.

"So you think these are fair teams?" Harry asked as he and Draco reviewed their lists.

"Yeah, I do. Dumbledore told us we have to stay together, so we're going to have to be on the same team. For the other three teams we need three other leaders who can get their team to D.C. alive. So I think that should be Neville on Team B, Ginny on Team C, and Kyle on Team D."

"Do you think Kyle is ready enough to lead a team?" Harry asked skeptically.

Draco's face was slightly unsure but he answered. "Sure, Kyle is really headstrong. He knows most of the Duraflame's. And you saw him a couple months ago in the hallway beating up that one guy because he stole his lunch. So, I'll go inform those three about the teams. You get everyone together so we're ready to start operation The Great Escape.

"Alright." Harry answered, and then he and Draco separated to do their separate jobs.

Harry found people in the common room ready to go so he told them to stay here and double check if they had everything. Then he went to all the guys' dorms and got them out. He couldn't find Hermione so he assumed that she was still in her dorm, so he told Ellie to get all the girls out of the rooms and into the common room.

"So now we're only waiting for Draco to give us the signal to send the first team out to set off the knock out bombs?" Fred asked Harry, Harry nodded and kept sending glances back towards the stairs incase Draco came down.

"Team Knock Out Bombs go! Draco yelled as he came bounding down the stairs in a heap.

Sarah, Selena, Sophie, Seth, and David all gathered up the knock out bombs and their wands and cautiously exited the common room.

"So now we wait for your friend Luna to give us another signal?" Jack asked walking up to Harry.

"Yeah, Luna said she sent some Wackspurts out or something to report back to her." Harry answered. Jack looked confused at Wackspurts so Harry felt that he should explain. "Oh, Wackspurts are these creatures Luna say's exist but only she can see them. Yeah, don't ask."

Jack nodded in understanding, and then went to go stand by Mary again.

"How do you think they're doing?" Draco asked nervously rubbing his hands together.

"Well, I don't know but we have to have faith they can do it." Hermione answered from besides Harry.

"And you're sure they can do this task?" Draco asked.

Hermione let out an irritated huff. "Yes, Draco I do think they can do this task. Now quiet, your ruining the mood!"

Draco nodded ignoring the fact that Hermione just snapped at him. Harry gripped the mirror tightly as he stared straight ahead at the portrait hole door. Then after ten minuets of agonizing waiting, the mirror that Harry held vibrated.

Staring down at the piece of glass he saw _Blaise Zabini calling_ written across the screen. Harry knew that had to be Luna so he quickly tapped the glass once with his wand. Luna's face popped up on the screen along with Lavender's. "Harry!" She called.

"Yeah, Luna I'm here. What's the report?" Harry asked frantically.

"Three of the four guards are knocked out. None of the ghosts are around, and all the regular Hogwarts and Duraflame teachers are locked up in their rooms." Luna answered expertly.

"Where's the fourth guard?" Harry asked.

"Oh right. Well he's in Pore's office and he hasn't come out yet. If we send the team in there they'll get caught, so their waiting outside the portrait hole to Pore's office." She said.

Harry groaned. "Ok then." Then he noticed Lavender staring at him with pleading eyes. "Lavender, where are you and Luna? And where is Parvati and Blaise?"

This time Lavender answered Harry through the mirror. "They're still in the Serra common room packing, and trying to tell the Serra's the plan, but the problem is the Serra's don't want to fight. They believe in peace."

Harry groaned again holding his temple with his fingers. "Well convince them they have to stay here and fight!"

Lavender looked scared as she muttered something under her breath and disappeared from the view of the screen. "Don't worry Harry, she's following your orders." Luna said simply.

"Alright good." Harry gasped closing his eyes.

"Well have to go Harry, try to call Seamus, and see how he's doing." Luna said putting on another dreamy expression.

"Ok, see ya Luna." Harry waved to her, and then cut off her signal. "Draco you call Seamus. I have to sit down." Harry handed the mirror to a willing Draco and then sat down on the couch holding his scar in pain.

"Harry, are you going to make it?" Hermione asked softly, sitting next to him.

Harry took his hand off his throbbing scar and forced himself to face Hermione. "Yeah, don't worry I'll be fine. We just have to worry about getting out of here ok." Harry answered through a fake smile.

Hermione wasn't convinced but didn't question him any further for the sake of his headache.

"Hey Potter." Draco whispered walking to the couch and sitting next to Hermione. "I got a hold of Seamus, and he said that Neville, Dean, Kyle, Joe, Micah, himself, and a couple of their friends are ready for Luna's signal. He also got a hold of Ginny, and she's ready to."

"Thanks Draco." Harry whispered back, and then took a deep breath.

And then there was a loud alarm sounding from the mirror. Written in big bold letters across the screen was _**REX IS DOWN. ALL HOUSES MOVE IN!**_ That was Luna's signal. Harry quickly showed the message to Draco and Hermione then stood up facing the awaiting group.

"That was the signal team! Let's move out!" He ordered taking his wand out of his back pocket and tightening his bag on his shoulders.

There was a lot of yelling as everyone scampered out of the portrait hole. Every person ran full speed down every stairwell. The finally got to the main entrance of the school and ran out into the rain. The other houses were there already impatiently awaiting their arrival. "We got everyone here!" Seamus yelled to Harry over the pounding rain and the yelling.

"Good! Now help me lead everyone into the forest!" Harry yelled back. Then Seamus, Draco, and himself ran into the front bringing everyone towards the dark forest. Not everyone came so to Harry's relief it wasn't as hard to travel as he thought. Luna caught up with them in the front and led them to a rocky cave hidden in moss and overgrown bushes.

"Their here." She said calmly pulling back a branch.

Harry didn't get what she was talking about until a black skeletal horse emerged out of the cave. He had big wings folded into his sides and his hooves were chipped. "Bloody hell." Harry gasped seeing the creature before him.

"Beautiful aren't they?" Luna mused staring happily at the creature.

"Wait aren't these the guys who pull the carriages at Hogwarts?" Draco asked standing behind Luna.

"Yup." She replied.

Now Harry remembered them. He saw them when he arrived at Hogwarts for the start of term, but he didn't tell anybody he saw them. Now everything made sense.

"What are we doing here? There is nothing here, what are you three looking at?" Kyle asked loudly. Harry turned around to face the rest of the group. Some people had big wide eyes, while others were staring at the three like they were madmen. Even Hermione was confused to Harry's dismay.

"Why can't they see them?" Harry yelled to Luna, not because he was mad, but because it was hard to hear otherwise.

"I told you Harry. Only people who have seen death can see them." Luna replied also yelling back.

"Well how are we supposed to ride out of here if they can't see them?" Harry was now starting to get mad, because the others not being able to see the horses can ruin their chances of escaping.

"Don't worry Harry, they can still ride them, they just can't see them. We'll put someone who can't see them on with someone who can see them. Just in case they get freaked out and fall off!" Luna said with pleading eyes.

"Fine." Harry whispered.

Luna gave him a small smile then they called everyone who could see them to help wrangle the creatures up. There was a lot more thresteles than Harry expected, but he wasn't complaining, it was better this way.

"You ready 'Mione?" Harry called behind him once he hopped on a creature and had Hermione hanging onto him with dear life.

"No! I hate flying!" She called back.

Harry patted her head softly and waited for the rest of the people to get situated. "Is everyone ready?" Draco asked the group riding to the front so he could see everyone; he also had a nervous Ellie behind him.

"No! Luna's not here!" Mary called from behind Jack somewhere in the middle of the group of thresteles.

"Don't worry, she went to go find Hagrid!" Ginny called. She was sitting in front with Dean behind her.

"I'm back!" Luna called from the hazy darkness of the forest. A dark figure trudged behind her. Finally the two came into view and Harry saw a tired but grateful Hagrid.

"Don' ya worry 'Arry." Hagrid said, his voice booming. "Luna here told meh abou' Ur plan an I will go back to London to inform the Order."

"Thank you Hagrid!" Harry yelled up to him craning his neck.

Hagrid smiled at the friends who smiled warmly back and then apparated out of the forest leaving nothing but dust behind him. "Alright now is everybody ready?" Draco called again.

There were a few murmurs throughout the group, and Harry and Draco took that as an ok, so they prodded their thresteles to move. The thresteles snorted and then started galloping. Once they were at a fast enough speed the creature withdrew their wings and began to take flight.

Being in the air again felt like heaven to Harry, but Hermione kept clinging onto him and screaming so she kind of ruined the mood. Harry looked back at the castle of Duraflame getting farther and farther behind them. He felt sorry for leaving Sophie and other students there the fight Pore and his men, but it was part of the plan, and Draco kept telling him to stick with the plan.

After an hour or two in the air the three groups split up and flew separate ways. Harry and Draco's group landed first in a humongous field of wheat. "We'll make camp here tonight." Draco announced hopping off his threstele and helping Ellie off.

Harry also hopped off but once he did he felt pain and soreness running through his legs and in his crotch area. "Ow." He moaned straightening himself out.

"Don't worry Harry, that happens when you ride a horse to long." Hermione said taking Harry's hand and jumping off the black creature.

"Ok then." Harry answered trying to hold back his pain.

The two walked over to where the rest of the group was setting up. Their group had Draco, Ellie, Fred, George, Angelina, Cody, Jack, Mary, Luna, Grace, and Seamus. It wasn't the biggest team, but they figured since they were the first group, that they should be smaller.

Harry and Hermione helped set up two enchanted tents, and Hermione and Luna did a bunch of protection spells around the campsite. The group separated with girls in one tent and boys in the other, and after a brief goodnight everyone fell fast asleep.

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**I feel bad for not updating, but school, homework, and volleyball stole time from me writing. So please review this chapter, it would really make me feel better! And once again thank you **_**HorseLoverForever2000**_** for your characters Jack and Mary. Next chapter should be up sometime soon, hopefully. Thanks for reading! –SR7**


	25. An Eventful Journey

**So yeah I'm back. Homework is really catching up to me, and I hate it! But I really want to finish this story cause it's almost done. I don't really have anything else to say, so please enjoy this next chapter! –SR7**

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"Hermione, do you mind cooking dinner?" Harry asked one evening. It had only been three days since the escape from Duraflame, and Harry's group already traveled six places. Their current camp was in the woods in Texas. Nobody knew exactly where they were, but they assumed since Fred and George saw a 'Welcome to Texas' sign a few hours back that they were in Texas.

"Sure, do we have any meat?" Hermione asked getting up from her seat on a stump.

Harry looked around the camp. "No." He huffed. "I'll take Draco and Jack to go hunting with me really quick. Could you start something babe?" Harry asked taking his wand out and rubbing it down with a rag.

Hermione smiled. "Yeah I can. Be careful out there. All of you!" she ordered. Then she walked away towards the girls and started talking to them.

"What's this I hear about us hunting?" Draco asked from behind Harry. He turned around to face Draco who was cleaning up some dry blood from his arm. The journey had been rugged and unsafe, so everyone was dirty and bloodied up.

"We're out of meat, so we have to go catch some game. Go get Jack, and then we can head out." Harry told the blonde who moodily stumbled away towards the boys' tent.

Draco had grabbed Jack's ear and forcefully pulled him out of the tent, Harry saw them coming towards them and he rolled his eyes. "Are you sure we have to bring him? I mean why can't we take someone else who irritates me less?" Draco asked throwing his arm down.

Jack glared at him. Jack and Draco had gotten into many arguments over the last couple days. It was getting on everyone's nerves. "Would you two try to get along? Honestly you two have no reason to be fighting right now." Harry answered thrusting a sack into Jack's hands.

"Whatever." Draco mumbled quietly. "Lets just go, there might be deer in this forest, and I'm to bloody starving to think about what I'm eating, so let's go!" He barked stomping into the trees.

Harry chuckled, and then followed Draco deeper into the woods with Jack trailing behind him.

The boys didn't find any deer, but they did come across a wild hog. So after a quick stunner from Harry, Jack and Draco got down by the hog and took a knife out stabbing it to make sure it was dead. They rolled the beast into the sack and heaved the heavy sack up and struggled to walk back to the camp with it in tow. When they reached the fire where they would cook the pig, they threw down the creature panting. Then Draco went to go get Fred and George so they could skin it, and then cook it.

"This is nasty!" Fred exclaimed as he brought his knife down.

"That's why we made you two do it." Draco answered leaning back on a rock, trying to get comfortable.

"Ugh! Would you two hurry up? I'm starving over here!" Seamus exclaimed. He had just gotten up from being passed out on a mat. "Curse my Irish appetite!" he groaned holding his stomach that was grumbling loudly.

"Alright we're done!" George gasped standing up and backing away from the meat. Fred and George both were blood stained, and the stench was starting to catch up to everybody.

"Why don't you two go wash up at the creek bed over there, ok?" Mary suggested standing by Jack holding her nose in disgust.

"Good idea. Let's go bro!" Fred shouted racing his twin to the water.

"Ellie, could you help me cook this?" Hermione asked poking the pork with her finger.

Ellie scrunched her nose up but went to the pork anyway. "Fine, but only because it's going to taste really good once it's cooked."

"I'll help you two to. My dad used to take me hunting so I know how to cook these things." Cody said kneeling down by the fire.

"It's true." Ellie piped up.

"That's good, because honestly I don't know what I'm doing." Hermione replied weakly.

"Harry?" Jack asked the green-eyed wizard once the Beck's and Hermione started dinner.

"Hmm?" Harry responded turning to face him fully.

"Do you think you can help me train right now?" He asked sort of shyly since he whispered it.

Harry stared at him for a moment studying his white face. "Sure, let's go over there." He finally said.

Jack nodded and then Harry and Jack went deeper into the woods to a small clearing. "I was hoping you could be my partner when I try to practice my hexes." Jack finally said, after minutes of silence.

"Ok, that's fine." Harry answered while taking his wand out. "Go ahead."

Jack took a deep breath then he lunged his wand towards Harry, a stream of white light passed through his wand and directed itself towards Harry. His eyes got wide, and he ducked avoiding the blinding curse.

"Whoa! Dude what was that?" Harry asked half amazed and half terrified.

Jack shrugged. "I don't know it's just something I learned from my dad. He would teach Mary and I new curses or jinxes every week." He replied simply with out a second thought.

Harry nodded and then looked back at the brunette. "How did you and Mary meet?"

Chuckling Jack took a seat on the leaf-covered ground. "We've actually known each other forever. Our parents are best friends, and that's how we started out. But then when I was twelve I noticed how pretty and smart she really was. So when we were at Hogwarts I started flirting with her, trying to get her to notice me, but she didn't really catch on till we were thirteen, and she over heard me talking to a friend about her." Jack paused for a moment staring off into space.

"So Mary was your best friend, and then you started noticing her. Did you notice any other girls?" Harry asked thinking this story sounded familiar.

"Well, of course I did!" Jack answered with a chuckle. "I'm a hormonal teenage boy, we all do at one point or another. But when I look at Mary, I don't just see some hot girl who could be any girl. No, I see a beautiful, talented, freakishly smart, down to earth perfect girl. I wouldn't trade Mary in for anything. Yeah I know I'm only fifteen years old, but when you find that one perfect mate. She seems like your soul mate forever."

"Wow, that's deep." Harry said with a smirk. "Your already fifteen? I thought you said you were in fourth year."

Laughing Jack answered. "I turned fifteen three weeks ago."

"Ah, that makes sense." Harry said thoughtfully.

"So what about you and Hermione? What's your story?" Jack asked nudging Harry's side.

Harry couldn't help but blush at this. "Um, well I've known Hermione since first year. She's my best friend; she's helped me through so much over the years. You know, I used to be head over heels for Cho Chang."

"Really?" Jack asked shocked.

"Yeah. But after she was with Cedric and I saw them always so happy together, I started giving up on her, and started noticing Hermione. I mean, she was with me every day helping me prepare for the Tri-Wizard tournament, but I was to wound up with Cho to notice her. So I think I really started to see Hermione when she was coming down the staircase at the Yule Ball. I felt a lot of hate towards Krum, but I tried not to show it. And then last summer I had to deal with Ron starting to like her. Those were very painful months for me, and it wrecked Ron and mines friendship for a long time. But I got Hermione so I don't think I could ever notice another girl again now that I have her." Harry said dreamily staring up at the sky.

"And then you asked her to go steady with you." Jack mused. "That was a smart move. Now you know you'll always have Hermione."

"Yeah." Harry whispered twiddling his fingers around. "Well let's get back to practice." He announced getting up and shaking the dry leaves off his jacket.

Jack got up to and stood before Harry. "Thanks for the talk Potter."

"Anytime." He answered. Then Jack and Harry went back to trying to hex each other into oblivion.

"Jack? Harry?" Luna called an hour later. "Dinner's ready!"

The two boys stumbled out of the trees gasping for breath. Both men were skilled with a wand and their dual didn't stop until both of them singed off a piece of their clothing. "Nice- wo-work!" Harry gasped bending down so he could catch his breath.

"Right. Back. At. You." Jack replied slowly.

Hermione and Mary ran over to the two Gryffindor's and wrapped a blanket around their shoulders. Then Hermione fixed their burnt clothing. "Honestly, what are we going to do about you two?" Hermione snapped sitting Harry down on a log by the fire where the pork hung roasting.

"Sorry 'Mione." Harry mumbled.

Hermione hugged him and then gave him a plate of pork, beans, and bread. "Eat." She ordered.

Harry didn't hesitate as he stuffed his face into his food.

"I want thirds!" Seamus called smacking his lips.

"Seamus, we don't have that much food, you have to leave some for the rest of us." Angelina scolded handing him a rag.

Seamus stuck his tongue out at her and then proceeded to wipe his mouth off.

"Guys?" Draco announced loudly getting everyone's attention. Once everyone's eyes were firmly set on him, he continued. "I think we're going to have to travel again tonight. I just talked to Kyle and Ginny over the mirrors and they said that death eaters _and_ Lucifer's men are out to get us. They're out there everywhere trying to find us. Ginny said it isn't a good idea to stay in the same place to long. So pack up everyone and mount your thresteles, cause we're leaving tonight. I want to make it to Arkansas by morning."

The group groaned as they cleared their food and started packing up their stuff. Harry stuffed the tent into his bag and slung it over his shoulders while he placed his wand in his inside jacket pocket. "You ready 'Mione?" he asked when he walked over to her and their threstele.

"Not really." She squeaked uncertainly.

"Don't worry baby, just hold onto me, and you won't fall." Harry kissed her forehead and then lifted her up on the creature. Hermione started hyperventilating as she clung to Harry with everything she had.

Harry had to loosen her grip just so he could breathe. "Draco, you ready?" Harry called pushing his threstele to move towards Draco and Ellie.

"Yeah I am. Ellie say's she feels sick though." Draco said concerned.

"I'm sorry Harry, but I don't feel well at all." Ellie moaned. Harry noticed her face was getting a sickly green as she spoke.

Harry sighed frustrated. "Listen, Ellie, I really am sorry about this, but we can't stop right now. We have to keep moving. If you feel like throwing up just puke to the side of your threstele, or on Draco, whichever one you prefer. We'll try to get to Arkansas as soon as we can. Can you make it that long?" he wondered trying to catch Ellie's baggy eyes.

The young girl grunted, and then mustered out. "I'll try."

"Thank you so much Ellie. Don't worry, once we land we'll get you some medical assistance." Harry reassured.

Ellie gave him a drunken nod, and Draco glared at him leaning forward trying to get out of reach of Ellie's mouth. Harry clucked up his beast and they took off. The team soared through the dark gloomy sky sweating through their clothes. Harry could see Ellie bringing up her dinner from the side of his peripheral vision, he felt sorry for her, and Draco. But unfortunately they did have to get out of Texas, and getting the whole team to safety was the higher priority in this situation. He was sure Ellie and Draco understood.

Halfway through the flight Harry could feel Hermione softly snoring while she was still clinging on to him. So while he had this moment of silence he started thinking of his parents, of freedom, of baby Taylor. Oh he missed her so! She was so sweet and innocent; he was sick to his stomach knowing that she was back at Duraflame with Pore and his minions.

In the distance Harry could see the golden sun begin to rise, and the green woodlands under him. He estimated that they should be in Arkansas by now so he waved to Draco trying to get his attention. Draco lazily looked his way yawning in the process. "Mate, do you want to land over by that lake?" Harry asked quietly, trying not to disturb the people sleeping.

Draco lowered his head to the place where Harry was pointing. Then barely giving Harry the slightest acknowledgement that he understood, Draco took off towards the bank by the lake.

"Prat." Harry mumbled under his breath

Taking off after Draco, Harry gripped tighter to the mane of his threstele preventing himself or Hermione from falling off. Harry could hear the faint whistles of the other duo's following behind him as they descended further down to the ground. Seeing that Draco had landed on the rocky bank of the shore Harry slowed down his beast and carefully landed on the pebbles below them.

Draco had taken Ellie off his beast and was carrying her bridal style towards the moss-covered ground by the trees where he set her down on her back. Harry hopped off the threstele and helped Hermione off; who had just woke up. Then they slowly walked towards a tear stricken Draco and a very pale Ellie.

"How she doing mate?" Harry asked softly.

Draco started slightly shaking his head as Cody ran up from behind them and slid on his knees trying to reach Ellie. "She needs medicine. Now!" Cody yelled, cracking his voice in the process.

Hermione gasped back a tear and ran back towards the herd grabbing her bag from the beast's neck. Running back, Hermione took out a small glass vile that contained a yellowy substance. Slowly she lowered the vile to Ellie's lips and tips the contents into her mouth. Everyone was watching with wide eyes waiting for something to happen.

Slowly but surely Ellie starts to twitch and breathe. Harry let out a sigh of relief. Hermione very well just saved Ellie Beck's life.

"She's alive!" Draco and Cody yelled at once when Ellie started blinking her eyes open. Instantly her two favorite boys mauled her in a hug.

"Wa-water." Ellie heaved sickly.

"Mary! Get the lady some water!" Seamus ordered rudely.

Mary stuck her tongue out at the boy but went to fetch a canteen anyway. "Alright, here you go Ellie." She said quietly handing the blonde girl the half full canteen.

Ellie ravenously pulled the water to her and drank it all in one sitting. "Geez girl!" Fred murmured shocked and the savage manner Ellie was displaying.

"Where are we?" Ellie asked finally.

"Arkansas. We're around in the middle of the United State, of course I'm a little off on my math though, but we're close." Harry answered looking around the group getting a good look at it.

"Awesome." She replied flatly setting her head on Draco's shoulder.

Harry gave her a sympathetic look then he addressed the rest of the team. "Luna and Grace I want you two girls to call the other teams and see how their doing so far, got it?"

"No problem Harry, come Grace lets go call them by the lake, there are less Nargels there." Luna said happily dragging Grace along with her who looked confused.

"Ok, now Fred, George, Jack, and Seamus I want you to scout out the area. Make sure that there aren't any people living here, or just people period." Harry told them holding his hands behind his back. The boys nodded then took off into the forest.

"Harry, Mary and I will set up the enchantments." Hermione said. Mary perked up her head and nodded.

Harry shrugged. "Alright then, go ahead." Hermione smiled and pulled Mary along.

"Harry, Ellie is still pretty weak I don't know if she can move much." Draco said concerned stroking her silky soft blonde hair.

Harry knelt down besides Cody so he was at eye level with Ellie and Draco. "Don't worry I'm not gonna make her do anything. But Draco I'm going to need you to stay with her incase we have to evacuate though, okay?" Harry asked.

Draco nodded in understanding. "Don't worry mate, I won't leave her side."

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_**~*~*~* Harry's Dream ~*~*~***_

"_Hiding you say?" a dark figure asked his servant._

"_Yes. On the bank of the Arkansas River, he's with the Malfoy boy to." Answered the servant in a raspy voice._

_Harry was there again, but this time it wasn't Voldemort that he was watching, it was Lucifer, his servant, and a dark hooded woman figure standing in the corner blocking what looked liked was prisoners, could it be Dunn, Kelly, and Sprout? Harry looked down on himself to see that he was a man chained up to a chair. From the looks of his hands he was around seventy years old, his clothes were tattered and ruined, and he could see a beard hanging down with blood and bugs hanging off of it._

"_What should we do about Potter and Malfoy with their little group?" The servant asked ignoring the man chained up to the death chair._

_Lucifer stroked his goatee in thought. "Kill them all, before they reach the white house. They can all ruin my plans if you don't! Get to it man!" Lucifer screamed, his scars on his face lighting up a blood red as he did so._

_The servant nodded in understanding then flashed out of the room. The woman that was standing silently in the corner came up to Lucifer; she pulled down her hood to reveal beautiful Auburn hair, Phoebe. "Master, now what shall we do with Mr. Beck?" she asked smoothly yet dangerously._

_Lucifer flashed his hideous face towards Harry. "I have no use for him anymore. Kill him!"_

_Phoebe smirked evilly. "My pleasure." She raised up her wand and shouted 'Avada Kadarva.'_

_Harry's eyes got wide as he shouted "NO!" The last thing he saw was Lucifer and Phoebe's evil faces along with the shocked faces of the captured professors._

_**~*~*~* End of Dream ~*~*~***_

"No!" Harry screamed at the top of his lungs. His chest was heaving in and out; sweat was cascading down his chest and face. Harry frantically looked around his tent to see Draco and Ellie still asleep in a chair, Seamus conked out on his mat, and Jack snoring loudly on the mat next to him. But Cody was missing from his mat, and so were the twins, but the twins were keeping watch so Harry didn't give them much of a second thought.

"Harry?" A voice called from outside the tent.

Harry whipped his head towards the flap of the tent, no one was coming in so he grabbed his shirt and put it on along with his shoes and wand. Harry stumbled out of the tent still panting loudly.

Cody was sitting by the fire with Fred and George. All their faces looked pale and dead.

"What happened here?" Harry wondered.

The three boys exchanged nervous glances then turned their attention towards Harry. Cody spoke. "We got a call from Ginny, a group of Lucifer's minions attacked their camp, and we got some bad news." Cody took a deep breath holding in a tear. "One of the minions killed Joe. Ginny told us that the dude jumped in front of a killing curse that was pointed towards her; he took a full blow to the chest. Ginny said she was crying hysterically, actually she was still crying hysterically when she called, but the point is that, everyone else got out and escaped the attack, but the minions are headed our way right now." Cody was still trying to hold in his apparent crying while Fred and George silently let some tears fall from their cheeks.

Harry felt himself hyperventilating in his chest. His dream was true. "Where was Ginny's group?" he asked loudly.

"Nebraska." Cody answered.

"And how long ago did they attack her camp?"

"About two hours ago. Ginny said she wanted to get her group far enough way before she made any calls."

Harry slapped his forehead. "That means that their almost here!"

Cody and the twins finally realized what was going on. "Ahhhh!" they screamed.

Harry ignored their screaming and ran towards the tents. "Wake up! Everyone wake up! This is not a drill! Wake up!"

He could hear people moving around the tents putting away things and getting dressed. Harry ran back to the twins and Cody and helped them try to put out the fire. The girls came rushing out of their tent while Hermione quickly tried to stuff the now fallen tent into her bag. The boys came out next and Draco holding Ellie, everyone with dark circles under their eyes. Seamus helped Hermione stuff the second tent into her bag while the others loaded up the thresteles.

"What's going on Harry?" Draco yelled trying to be heard over the noise.

"Lucifer's minions are coming this way. We have to get out of the area-"

_*Boom*_

Everyone went quiet at the sound. Suddenly there was yelling coming from the trees as black hooded figures came charging out firing off spells every which way.

"Everyone get out of here!" Harry yelled avoiding a curse that flew by his head.

People were scrambling to mount their beasts and avoid spells at the same time. Harry started attacking some minions so his group could escape. "_Stupefy!_" he yelled aiming his spell at a big man who just emerged from the woods. The spell knocked him out.

"_Crucio!_" a man yelled out pointing his wand towards Draco. Draco's eyes got wide as the spell charged towards him, but he kicked his threstele and he and Ellie took off towards the direction of the moon, away from the battle.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Harry yelled at the caster who aimed his spell at Draco. The minion's wand flew out of his hand and into Harry's.

"_Reducto!_" Hermione yelled from behind Harry. Her spell hit a tree, and it fell onto the ground smashing some of the men. "_Accio rock!_" Hermione yelled diving down onto the ground avoiding another spell. A big rock about the sized of Harry's head came flying towards the girl, she caught it and enchanted it to missile itself towards one of the hooded figures.

Some bloke kept aiming a killing curse towards Harry and he was getting weak diving down into the rocks to defend himself. Taking a couple breaths he peeked out from behind his hiding place to try to find his attacker, unfortunately he was standing only a few feet away and he saw Harry. "_Diffindo!_" The attacker yelled. Harry had barely any time to react, he was slightly to slow, the spell cut across his shoulder. Blood started to ooze out.

"_Impedimenta!_" A voice shouted somewhere. Suddenly Harry couldn't hear his attacker anymore. He cautiously peered his head out to see what had happened. Jack was standing over the figure looking proud. "Hey Potter, you have to be more careful." He joked.

Harry smirked. "What are you still doing here? I told everyone to leave."

Jack suddenly looked regretful. "Sorry sir, but me and Mary stayed behind to help. You and Hermione could never have defeated all the minions by yourselves."

Harry sighed. "It's fine, and thanks for saving me." Jack smiled back at Harry. "Are all the men down?" Harry asked.

"For now. But I'm sure Lucifer is going to send reinforcements so we better get going and try to catch up with the rest of the group." Jack answered. "Oh, and we better get the wound covered, you never know what might be dangerous to leave out in the open."

"Alright lets go." Harry said covering his bloody shoulder with his hand and limping after Jack.

Harry, Hermione, Jack, and Mary all took off at once. They stayed just above the clouds incase they were being followed. They tried to find the rest of their group, but they were nowhere in sight.

They traveled for two days searching high and low. Harry realized this is the first time Hermione hasn't complained about flying, in well, a long time. "Hey Potter!" Jack yelled from the threstele beside him.

"What?"

"Do you reckon we're in Virginia yet?" Jack asked looking down on the earth.

"Maybe, you want to head down?"

Jack nodded so the four of them headed down to the ground, landing just outside the city. "Everyone keep your heads down, we don't need anyone recognizing us." Hermione ordered sternly.

"Why can't we just use Harry's invisibility cloak?" Mary wondered taking Jack's hand.

"Because Draco took it." Harry answered quietly.

The four students then started their walk into the city, hiding behind garbage cans and jumping fences. Finally they came upon a neighborhood with children filling the streets. "Stay on the sidewalk." Hermione whispered. Harry nodded and followed the girl to the side.

They preceded their walk, but it didn't last long. "Psst! Potter!" a voice hissed. Harry automatically stopped afraid to move. They had been caught. Again the voice whispered "Psst! Potter!" The group turned their heads to the left to face a normal looking suburban house. A boy about their age was standing in the doorway beckoning them in.

"Should we?" Harry whispered to Hermione.

Hermione looked skeptical but she nodded anyway. The group slowly made their way up the walk to face a freckle face boy with black curly hair, piercing blue eyes, braces, and a red sports jersey. From a girls point of view he would be described as cute, but from a guy's point of view such as Jacks, he was described as a good for nothing free loader.

"Who are you?" Harry whispered looking up at the boy.

"I'm Chris Harstick, muggleborn." He whispered back. "We've been waiting for you four in here. Hurry before someone sees!" Chris grabbed Harry and Hermione's wrists and pulled them into the house then did the same to Mary and Jack.

As Harry stumbled into the house he caught sight of an elegant interior that was dripping with diamonds. Chris seemed to not notice the four students sudden halt as he left the room momentarily. When he came back he put a smile on his face. "I think you lost something, and I think I found it." Saying nothing more he led the group into the back room of the house. He lifted a rug off the floor and took his wand out. He muttered an unfamiliar spell, and then suddenly a door appeared in the floor.

"Whoa." Mary gasped impressed. Jack rolled his eyes.

Chris lifted up the door and lit up his wand. Harry and the others did the same, and then each one followed Chris down lower into the floorboards. There was a dark musty hallway that was filled with spider webs. Harry was thinking that if Ron was here, that he would be freaking out right now. Then Chris abruptly stopped in front of another door, turning back to the group the strange mysterious boy winked at them then opened the door to reveal none other then the rest of the group.

"Potter!" Draco exclaimed happily once he caught sight of him.

"Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed back, but more relieved. Harry gave Draco a man hug then greeted the rest of his team.

"We thought you were dead." Ellie said tearing up as she hugged Hermione.

"And we thought you guys were dead." Hermione answered back.

"Okay, okay lets try to get back on subject." Cody said intervening into the emotional hellos. "Chris says this house has a secret passage way directly to the American ministry. Draco agrees with me that we should use it instead of roaming the streets outside. Now I'm pretty much positive you will agree with me." He said giving Harry a knowing look.

Harry rolled his eyes. "No duh I agree with you, Beck."

"I thought you might say that." Cody replied smirking.

"Any word from the other teams?" Hermione asked.

The rest of the group turned to Luna whose dreamy expression did not change. "David was shot in his left arm from a attacker somewhere in Kentucky, but everyone else is fine."

"Well if David's okay, then I guess we're okay, for now. So, when are we going to charge the ministry?" Harry asked the group seriously.

"We've been talking and we think that it should be tomorrow. They will be expecting us tonight, so we shouldn't hit them if they're expecting us." Seamus said, actually saying something that made sense.

"Alright then, let's all get some sleep, we're going to need it for tomorrow, and remember go in strong and come out strong." Harry announced catching a rolled up mat that Draco threw to him.

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**Well that's it for this chapter. I apologize for the super late update I just can't find a lot of time to write. So next chapter will be the last chapter, and then there will be an epilogue. Stick around. Oh! And don't forget to review! ;) Thanks! –SR7**

**(P.S. Sorry that this chapter kind of skips around a lot, I just wanted to get the chapter out, so that's why its shorter.)**


	26. Battle at the Ministry

**After a long hard week at school it feels good to be resting at home :) Please enjoy last chapter of _Harry Potter and America! _Just to warn you, this chapter will also be an angst chapter. Thanks! –SR7**

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"Medicine?"

"Check!"

"Bag?"

"Check!"

"Wands?"

"Check!"

"Okay, so is that everything?" Harry asked Hermione around four o' clock in the morning. The couple got up early for two reasons; one, the floor was hell to sleep on, and two they knew that they had to be prepared for the attack.

"I can't believe we're actually going to do this." Hermione muttered folding her arms and looking away probably to hide her face from Harry's.

Harry stared at the girl and put his arm around her. "I know 'Mione, just remember that if we stick to the plan then we should all make it out alive. I'm not going to let anything or anyone hurt you, ever." Hermione started to let tears fall from her cheeks and onto Harry's shirt. Then she carefully fisted her emerald encrusted locket in her hand.

"When are we leaving?" Hermione whispered suddenly.

Harry shrugged. "When we get word that the other two teams have landed in D.C. I suppose." He answered.

Hermione nodded into his chest and then pulled away. "I'll go call them up, you try to get the others awake and ready. Maybe they'll get up better today knowing how important this day is for all of our lives." She muttered picking up the mirror. Harry nodded then crawled over to Cody and Draco.

Taking out his wand he muttered "_Aquamenti!_" A stream of water escaped Harry's wand. Then switching the positions of his wand, Harry sprayed them with the ice-cold water.

"AHHHHH!" both boys exclaimed jumping up from their mats screaming.

With all that noise it woke up the other people sleeping. "Morning." Harry casually greeted the shocked team. "You guys ready for today? Did you all get enough sleep?" Harry asked smiling.

Cody and Draco were glaring at him, but Harry started laughing and backed off incase they pulled their wands on him.

There was a thumping noise from above and everyone stopped, the thumping started getting louder as the person got closer, suddenly Chris busted through the door. "What happened?" he asked. "I heard screaming, is everyone okay?" The team stared at the boy that was sleeping in basketball graphic pants, and a plain black shirt.

"Yeah we're fine. Just a idiot trying to wake us up." Draco answered scowling at Harry.

"Oh." Chris muttered. "I guess that's alright then. You people getting ready to leave?" he asked.

Ellie nodded. "Yes, are you coming with us Chris?"

The curly haired boy shook his head. "Sorry guys, but I have to man the safe house right here incase any other wizards such as yourselves needs a place to stay, or hide." Ellie shrugged then continued to pack her bag, but Chris started to stare at Mary.

Mary caught his dreamy blue eyes and blushed. Jack caught her change of reaction and shot Chris a cold death glare. Then he cleared his throat. "Well we better get going, Chris you should go back up to your house now." Jack said obviously trying to get rid of the boy.

Chris stared at Jack with a dark expression and immediately left the room in peace. "What was that about Jack?" Mary wondered once Chris was out of earshot.

"What? I'm just saying that we should get going before we're to late saving Dunn, Kelly, and Sprout." He answered quickly.

Mary didn't like his change in voice and sauntered off towards Grace and Luna. "Ok, so I just talked to Ginny and Kyle and they both say that they're in D.C. right now hiding. And I also told them that we're leaving now." Hermione said coming back over to the group handing Fred the mirror to hold.

"Alright, so is everyone ready?" Harry wondered picking up his wand and grasping Hermione's hand.

The group shared nervous expressions with each other but nervously nodded. So Jack and Seamus unbolted a small door on the barren wall and watched, as it swung open. Staring at the empty passageway before them, Harry hesitantly gulped and stepped one foot through the tunnel.

Further and further they crept trying not to make to much sound with their feet that were echoing after each step. Hermione started to squeeze Harry's hand really hard and after a while he could see spots, started sweating, and he could start to feel dizziness over take him. Then he fell.

"Harry!" Hermione gasped kneeling down leaning over him in fright.

"What happened?" Angelina asked coming up from behind them.

"Harry fainted I think." Hermione answered frantically, not looking up at her friend. Then she pulled her wand out. "_Aquamenti_!" A stream of water splashed Harry's face, he could definitely feel it, but he couldn't bring himself to get up.

"'Mione." He mumbled.

Hermione grasped his hand again. "Harry? Are you alright?"

"Water." Harry gasped holding his throat.

Hermione understood his need and brought the water coming out of her wand up to Harry's mouth so he could take a sip. Harry ravenously gulped the water down, and slowly began to regain consciousness.

"We need to keep moving." Harry said with a sick monotone.

"Absolutely not!" Hermione intervened, pulling Harry's arm down so he couldn't get up. "You just passed out right in front of us, we can't move yet, your not feeling well."

"Hermione I'm fine, it's just the temperature in this tunnel, I guess it was to much for me. Trust me if we keep moving there is a less of a chance of me passing out again." Harry reassured.

Hermione was definitely skeptic about this. "Fine, but if I see that your about to pass out again, we're stopping so you can rest. We're about to charge into the ministry so I don't want you to weak to fight. I can't lose you Harry." Harry gave her a sympathetic look and put his arm around her.

"Don't worry 'Mione, I'm going to be ok."

Hermione nodded and then let Harry lead the way again forward through the dusty tunnel. The group kept their wands out in front of them with the tips lit up so they could see. The tunnel was getting narrower by the minute, and this was freaking Seamus out.

"I don't like this!" he complained. "Can someone give me a paper bag, cause I think I'm gonna hurl!" Hermione stuffed her hand in her bag and pulled out a paper bag and handed to the green boy. Seamus started breathing heavily in it, and then pulled his mouth out. "How much longer? Can we just kill Lucifer so we don't have to endure this anymore? How long is this tunnel?" Seamus asked starting to yell.

"Oh! Would you shut up you ninny?" Draco yelled back. "Your making everything more stressful then it needs to be!"

Seamus had his mouth gaped open at Draco's out burst but shut it right back up again after catching Draco's death glare.

The group continued on in silence, each afraid to speak up to break the awkwardness. After some time a faint blue light could be seen up about fifty feet ahead of them. Harry stopped walking once he saw it. "I think we're here." He whispered not taking his eyes off the light.

"Yes, that's definitely it." Ellie said softly holding Draco and Cody's hands. "So this is it. We're going to break off into teams now aren't we?" she asked tears brimming her beautiful blue eyes.

"Yeah sis, we are. Please try to stay calm." Cody pleaded hugging his sister.

"Keep her safe." Draco said eyeing Cody intently. Cody stared back at Draco.

"Stay safe yourself, who knows, if we live through this I might let you properly date my sister." Cody said adding a chuckle to his words. Draco smiled back and then kissed Ellie on her cheek.

"Fred, George, stay safe. And take care of Hermione for me. If anything is to happen to me tell her that I love her." Harry told the twins in a whisper as he watched Hermione give a tearful goodbye to the girls of the group.

The twins grinned. "Harry, our brother may have acted like a jerk to you and Hermione, but you and Hermione will always be considered family in our book." Fred said hitting Harry's shoulder lightly.

"Thanks mate." Harry smiled. Then Hermione approached them.

"Stay safe Harry." She said kissing him.

Harry kissed her back. "You to. Remember once you find the professors, I want you to get out of here. Bring them and yourself to safety, go to London and warn the minister and the Aurors about what's happening and get them to send people over to help us. You got it?"

Hermione nodded and hugged Harry once more.

"Alright Harry, we should head out." Draco said breaking up Harry and Hermione's hug. Harry nodded and then stepped out of Hermione's embrace towards his blonde friend.

"Let's go." He spoke, and then with a curt nod to everyone and a longing look to Hermione he and Draco stepped into the blue light.

As soon as they felt the cold beams from above them, they were pulled from their head upwards towards the ceiling. The forces pulling them were giving Harry a migraine so he tried to hold his head, but unfortunately the forces were pushing his arms down and he was unable to lift them.

Finally there was a swish and Draco and Harry landed on a black tiled floor. The blue light had become an indoor waterfall, and the water was soaking through the boys' clothes. "Bloody hell." Draco muttered rolling out of the water fall and taking off his shoe releasing the excess liquid out. While Draco was trying to wring his clothes of water Harry decided to take a brief look around.

The room they were in had black tiles on the floors, walls, and ceiling. The water from the waterfall was casting shadows on the ceiling, making it glow blue. Before them was a black desk with a bright white lamp, behind the desk stood a portrait of the first wizards to settle in America. Then all around them standing in front of the desk stood black chairs gloomily just standing there with nothing to do. The thing that Harry noticed most though, was that the room was empty, absolutely empty.

"Where do you reckon everyone is?" Draco wondered from behind Harry.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know, but it's to quiet here, and I don't like it. We should get out of here and try to find Hawk."

"Agreed, but how are we going to be able to sneak around when we're sopping wet?" Draco asked pointing to their skins and clothes.

Harry rolled his eyes and then cast a drying spell on them. "Better?" he asked sarcastically.

Draco created an 'o' with his mouth. "Oh, right, I knew that."

"Sure." Harry said turning the other way to exit the patent room.

The boys stayed close to the walls with their wands held close to them. Every now and then someone would frantically walk by trying to get to their office, so Harry and Draco put the hoods up on their cloaks so no one could recognize their faces. Finally they got to the main center room. It was big, with office windows going up the walls of every wall. In the center of the floor stood a fountain with a statue of their current minister, minister Wolf on it. Harry remembers Ellie saying that after America gets a new minister the statue changes. Patrolling officers were standing everywhere, some on horses and some on foot. Draco pulled Harry near a newsstand where of course they had the headlines of _"Undesirable no. 1"_ and Harry's face plastered on each paper.

"How are we supposed to find Lucifer in this place? It's too big; do you know how many secret passageways this place has? Well it's a lot if you were wondering." Draco snapped making sure no one could hear him.

"You think I don't know that?" Harry snapped back. "We just need to ask someone." Harry stated starting to drift off in thought.

Draco gave him an_ are-you-stupid? _face. "No! We can't be seen by anyone, especially us!"

"I know." Harry calmly said. Standing behind Draco was a stand selling temporary poly juice potion, and that's when Harry got an idea.

"I do not like this one bit." Draco complained.

"Well how were we supposed to know that, that vile was a female vile?" Harry said sniggering.

Harry had gotten poly juice potion that made him look like an old man with wild gray hair and blue eyes. Draco on the other hand got a mid twenty's lady who had white glowing hair, silver eyes, and a white cloak. "I just want to state that I hate you, and that we should ask that lady over there about Lucifer." Draco said glaring at Harry and pointing to a suspicious lady who kept looking around her making sure no one touched her.

The boys (sort of) made their way over to the woman with a tight black bun, piercing blue-green eyes, and a black and red work cloak. "Excuse me miss?" Harry asked trying to make his voice sound old and crackling.

They lady jumped in her seat, whipping her head around to face the friends. "Wh-o a-are y-you?" She asked stuttering each word.

"Dr- I mean Linda." Draco said nervously.

"And I'm… Bruce." Harry said slowly. "How are you?" he asked politely.

The lady ignored his question. "What do you want? Your not the W.I.C. are you?" She asked raising her voice, with tears daring to fall down her cheeks.

Draco and Harry exchanged confused looks. "No miss, we were just wondering if a man name Brody Hawk works here."

The woman's facial expression changed from worried to fear. "Why would you be wanting to know if Brody Hawk works here? Is he in trouble? Or are you here to give him a raise? I swear if he gets the raise before me, he will not hear the end from me!" she screeched.

"Erm, well miss, he uh… is in trouble." Harry started casting Draco an _I-know-what-I'm-doing _look. "You see he is the one in trouble with the W.I.C. and we're here to fire him from his job, now if you would be so kind and direct us to his office, we would be much obliged." The woman now had a smile on her face.

"Vengeance at last!" she exclaimed. "I will lead you to him, this way now!"

Harry had a smile growing on his face, but it was also fear, cause these temporary poly juice potions were sure to wear off by now. Out of the corner of his eye he could see two bright blue Pueblo cloaks. Harry whipped his head around to see Kyle and Micah being interrogated by an officer. Harry elbowed Draco's side. "Mate, look." He whispered so the lady couldn't hear.

Draco followed Harry's gaze until it rested upon Kyle and Micah. "Bloody idiots got caught!" he whispered angrily. "I hate to say this but we have to help them, for the sake of this plan."

"I agree. Follow my lead." Harry whispered to Draco, and then raised his head up and directed his voice to the lady. "Excuse me miss, but my friend Linda and I have to take care of some business over there, would you mind if we did?"

The boys waited for the lady's answer. "Why of course. I'll wait here. You come back now ya here?" She said smiling.

Harry genuinely smiled. "We will, now come along Linda." Harry said cracking his voice and laughing with the lady.

Harry made his way over to the two boys with Draco trailing right behind him. "Excuse us officer, what seems to be the trouble here?" Draco asked with a raised voice.

The big black officer turned to Harry and Draco. "Who are you?" he asked gruffly.

"I am Bruce, and this is my friend and secretary Linda." Harry started. "I see you have my nephew and his friend with you. Now I asked them to come directly to my office, and when they didn't show I knew something must have been keeping them. Now I ask again, what is the problem officer?" Harry glared cold eyes at the officer and waited for him to speak.

"I caught these two hooligans sneaking around in Duraflame cloaks. I thought that wasn't right since school is still in session, but if they belong to you, take them away and make sure I don't see them again." The officer spat throwing Kyle towards Draco and Micah towards Kyle. "Good day." The officer spat again, and left their presence.

The two Pueblos stared at Harry and Draco curiously. "Who the heck are you, and why'd you save us?" Kyle asked standing a few feet away from them.

Harry and Draco stepped a few steps forward. "I'm Harry and that's Draco." Harry whispered, and watched as Kyle and Micah's eyes got big. "You have to be more careful around here." Harry warned darkly. "If someone sees you in those cloaks their going to be suspicious. Now if I were you, I would go change and try to find the captives. Do you understand?"

Harry could actually see fear coming out of Kyle's eyes. "Yeah Potter I understand. Come on Micah we should get out of here." Micah nodded and the two boys scurried off towards a gift shop.

"Come on, we should go find that lady again." Draco said pulling Harry's arm away.

They found the lady sitting on the edge of the fountain. "Business taken care of?" she asked smiling.

"Uh- oh yeah!" Draco stuttered.

"Way to keep it cool." Harry whispered to him. Draco sent Harry a loathing look and then the two boys followed the lady onward towards the elevator.

"I can not wait until Hawk gets fired, it will be my dream come true. That man has taken everything from me, and now he's getting what's coming for him. Thank you two so much for this, you don't know how much this makes me happy!" The lady babbled continuously in the elevator till it went down nine floors.

"_Department of war inquiries._" The loudspeaker voice said once the elevator landed on the ninth floor.

"Well here we are. Hawk's office is straight ahead through the double doors, good luck." The woman said, and then she stumbled back into the elevator muttering to herself about Hawk getting the bigger office.

As soon as the doors shut Harry and Draco's potion wore off, and they stood there in their regular clothes with their wands gripped tight. "You ready?" Draco asked as they both stared at the double doors with fear.

"No." Harry muttered. "But it's now or never."

The two friends exchanged nervous looks and then Draco kicked open the doors. Hawk was sitting at his desk with the minister chained up to a chair in front of him. Hawk and Wolf's heads turned to the boy's direction. Wolf's eyes had hope in them now, but Hawk's had anger in them. "Potter. Malfoy. What are you doing here?" He spat.

"Release the prisoners, and hand over you wand, then you can be peacefully escorted too Azkaban, but if you don't be prepared to die right here right now." Draco yelled back across the giant room.

Hawk started to laugh. "You silly British are that daft? Surely you should know that you will be the one's dieing today. I have an army, and I will gladly send for Pore back in Duraflame I'm sure he would be more then delighted to get his hands on some Potter and Malfoy meat."

Harry scoffed. "Well you should know that we have an army to, and we're prepared to fight. Release the prisoners! We're giving you one last chance." Harry warned raising his wand.

Hawk had the right to show a bit fear in his eyes, but being the stubborn man he is he shut down the boys demands. "Never! _Avada Kadarva!_" Hawk yelled aiming his wand towards Draco. But luckily Draco dived behind a couch avoiding the curse.

"_Reducto!_" Harry shouted pointing his wand towards the ceiling where a giant chandelier hung. As soon as the spell hit the chain though, the crystal fell, Hawk was quick to react and moved out of the way before the shards of crystal could pierce his skull.

Before any more spells were cast Hawk transformed himself, his face turned pale, he no longer had facial hair, a bright blood red scar was seen going diagonal across his face, and he became taller, red eyes illuminating the room. Hawk-or Lucifer took a step towards the boys and cackled deeply. "You boys don't know when to stop do you? Be prepared to die." Then Hawk spun his wand around and a black hole appeared at the far end of the wall, it started pulling everything towards it except Hawk and Wolf. "Goodbye boys." Hawk said smugly watching Harry and Draco struggling to hold on to a couch that was built into the floor. Then Lucifer swung the door open and left the room.

"After him!" Harry yelled trying to pull himself up.

"We can't it's to hard!" Draco yelled back. "The sucking is to strong, if we let go then we'll be sucked in!"

Harry grunted then as best he could pointed his wand towards the hole. "_Reducio_!" he yelled. Blue sparks shot out of his wand towards the hole, and then the hole started getting smaller and smaller until there was nothing there.

"Nice one." Draco gasped as he let go of the couch.

"Potter, Malfoy help me!" Wolf yelled.

Draco ran over to the minister and released him of the chains. "Minister, alert the British Ministry we need as much help as we can get." Draco ordered.

Wolf nodded and then hurried as fast as he could out of the room without being winded. Then Harry and Draco ran out of the room. "Where did Lucifer go?" Harry grumbled.

"I don't know, maybe towards the main room. We should start there." Draco answered already heading towards the elevator.

When the boys reached the Main Floor, Lucifer was there with an army standing before him. All the workers were rounded up and forced to fit into a small press office guarded by one of Lucifer's minions. "Harry hide!" Draco whispered diving into the gift shop.

Harry dived after him and army crawled behind the desk. Kyle and Micah were there to. "Good you're here!" Kyle exclaimed. "Lucifer said he killed you, what happened?"

"He put a black hole in his office and attempted to suck us in it, but failed because I reduced the size of it to nothing." Harry declared.

"Nice." Micah said grinning. "We think we're the only one's on this floor, everyone else is either trying to find the prisoners or sneaking around still. But Potter, what are we supposed to do in here? We can't take down all these people by ourselves, we'll surely die, what are we to do?" the short boy asked slower the usual.

Harry shrugged. "I guess we're going to have to do this like the Indians did things. Now I know you know more about those guys then I do, but I do know that they were master at hiding and sneak attacks. What do you guys think?"

Kyle started to smile. "I love it, and I have the perfect plan."

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**~*~*~*Hermione's P.O.V.~*~*~***

I'm with Fred and George right now, probably the best sneaking around partners ever! We found an elevator and we punched in the last floor assuming that the prisoner's might be down here. Well we're not far off. Down here there is a long dark corridor with dozens of doors, I don't know what this floor is called but I think it's pretty self-explanatory. We're checking each door seeing if anyone is in there, so far nothing.

"Hermione, this place is to big, how are we supposed to find anyone here?" Fred asked walking up to her.

"I don't know we just need to keep checking each door. And stop complaining!" I snapped. Fred backed off and continued down the corridor.

We keep checking each door; I swear if we don't find them soon I'm going to burst. "Hey Hermione, over here!" George called from a door on the right.

Hope?

"What is it?" I asked curious.

"This door has a padlock on it, do you think Lucifer is that stupid?" he asked giggling with his twin.

"I don't think so, Lucifer is smart, there's probably more to it." I answered holding the padlock in my hands. The ruff outing made me wonder how old this padlock was. "Twins!" I ordered. "I'm going to hit the lock with a Reducto, and you two put a shield around us incase something comes out when the door flies open." The twins nodded and held their wands equivalent to mine. "_Reducto!_" I yelled. Fred and George cast the temporary shield around us as the lock broke in half. When the door flew open five ghosts with fiery arrows floated out. Their faces were absolutely horrid, but it's not like they cared. "Take cover!" I yelled.

Fred and George did an amazing job dodging the arrows but they couldn't avoid them forever and that's when I heard George shout out a very useful spell. "_Scruge!_" Suddenly the ectoplasm of the ghost disappeared.

"Brilliant." I muttered. "Twins, do exactly what you just did!" I yelled dodging an arrow that was close to getting my leg. "_Scruge!_" I shouted at my attacker, and then he disappeared. The twins finished off the other three ghosts but it was a close battle for all of us.

"Well that was different." Fred said after the last ghost was destroyed.

I smiled at them and then pulled their arms so we were walking through the now opened door. The room was pitch black so we lighted our wands up. Once there was a brighter glow to the room I got a better look at it. The walls were made of stone and a chair sate at the far end of the room, there in the chair sat an old man, clearly dead. I gasped loudly and held my mouth.

The twins saw the old man to and their eyes got wide. "Do you reckon that was the old geezer from Harry's dream?" Fred asked disgusted.

I silently nodded daring to let myself cry.

"Miss Granger?" A voice asked as it echoed through the room. I whipped my body around to face a barred door at the other end with people on the other side. When we got closer I could see Dunn, Kelly, and Sprout staring hopefully at us from the other side.

"Professors?" I wondered trying to make sure I wasn't imagining this.

"Yes! Miss Granger it's us! Have you come to rescue us?" Dunn wondered in his usual cheery voice he has with sorrow added onto it.

I quickly nodded. "Stand back!" I ordered. The professors did as I told and I carefully aimed my wand towards the bars. "_Reducto!_" The bars blew off their hinges, there was dust flying around the air now but I didn't care as I ran inside the cell to hug my professors. "Come on! Let's get out of here."

We were about to leave when we heard a big boom. All I could think of was "this can not be good."

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**~*~*~*Harry's P.O.V.~*~*~***

"Fire!" Lucifer's voice screamed the highness of it must have cracked a few windows. Harry, Draco, Kyle, and Micah were hiding behind columns and walls firing spells at the minions, so far ten of them were down, but Lucifer knew someone was attacking him so he started attacking back even though he didn't know where to shoot.

"There's to many of them!" Draco yelled over to Harry, bringing his head back before it could be blasted by a curse. "We need help! Where's Wolf with the backup?"

"I don't know! They should have been here by now!" Harry yelled back shooting a curse at an approaching minion and knocking him down the many stairs.

"_Stupefy!_" Kyle yelled from the other side of the room. His spell knocked one guy down, but that guy had just shot a killing curse so it hit the guy in front of him.

Out of the corner of his eye Harry could see a minion attacking Micah and unfortunately the minion was winning. "_Crucio!_" The man yelled. Micah fell to the ground screaming in agonizing pain. Micah was getting weaker and weaker by the second, his veins were popping out of his neck and his face was getting a sickening white. Harry was frozen in fear.

"No!" a ruthless voice yelled. Kyle came sprinting over to his friend, and then jumped on the minion. He knocked the cloaked man down the stairs with him tumbling down after. The minion looked knocked out but Kyle was okay as he struggled to get up. Lucifer saw this and strutted over to Kyle, he knelt down and touched the minions face.

"He's dead." He whispered. "You killed him!" He shouted angrily pointing an accusing finger at Kyle.

Kyle looked frozen but aimed a spell at Lucifer "_Expelliarmus!_" he shouted backing up the steps. Lucifer flicked his spell away. It didn't take a genius to know what was going to happen next, and Harry could feel his breath get caught in his throat.

"_Avada Kadarva!_" Lucifer yelled at a helpless Kyle. The curse hit the poor Pueblo's lower abdomen, and he fell to the ground.

"NOOOOOO!" Harry shouted as he ran towards his friend. Lucifer saw Harry approaching and he transformed himself into a bat and flew out of the way. Harry felt like this was the part of a movie where everything became slow motion and sad music started to play. Tears were running down his face as he fell to the ground above Kyle.

"Harry." Kyle gasped, blood flowing from his body.

"Kyle? Come on Kyle speak to me!" Harry ordered grasping his lifeless hand in his own.

"Am I a hero?" Kyle asked. "Did I do my country a favor?"

The tears were falling freely from Harry's eyes. "Yes, you are a hero. You saved Micah's life, you did good." Harry sobbed holding Kyle's head up.

Kyle gave Harry a dead chuckle. "Tell my family I love them, and Micah, and the rest of the team, and my country. I'm honored to die for her." Kyle looked like he was about to pass when he opened his mouth again. "Do me a favor and kick Lucifer and Voldemort's assess for me." With his last words said Kyle died a smile playing on his lips.

Harry started to cry even harder into Kyle's jacket. Curses were flying passed him and he knew that Kyle was gone now, and he had to help Draco and the rest of the team so he reluctantly got up from Kyle's side and ran up the steps to where Draco was standing over Micah protecting his body. When Harry approached them Draco asked Harry with his eyes if Kyle was really gone, and by Harry's devastated tear stained expression he knew he had seen the last of Kyle Peterson. Harry and Draco knelt down to Micah and picked the small boy up carrying him into the nearest office.

"I can't believe he's gone." Draco said glumly, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"I know, but he said he was proud to die for his country so I'm going to respect that." Harry said while wrapping gauze around Micah's stomach.

"He was my best friend." Micah stated blankly. "I've lost both Kyle and Joe to Lucifer's men. I just can't believe it." He said shaking his head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry man." Draco told Micah. "Maybe next year you can come live in England or somewhere since this year is your last year in school. Maybe I can hook you up with a job." Draco said trying to get Micah's mind off things.

Micah gave him a weak chuckle. "Yeah that'd be great. If we survive this."

The room became silent. "Well we're not gonna lose hope so lets get back out there and finish off these bastards!" Harry proclaimed jumping up from his seat.

"If you say so." Micah said pushing himself off the table he was laying on.

The three boys checked themselves for their wands and then headed out the door towards the battlefield. Lucifer's men had piled up all their fallen men during the short break and were more bloodthirsty then ever. "You ready to finish this Potter?" Lucifer asked smugly.

Harry swallowed some spit as he stared down at the army before him. Then a battle cry was heard through out the room, but it wasn't any of Lucifer's men, everybody stood there dumbfounded until a bright white light illuminated the room. There before them stood all of the H.A. members being led by Hermione and none other then Ron. On the other end of the room another group came in. About one hundred American Aurors and one hundred British Aurors being led by Lupin, Sirius, Tonks, Moody, and Hagrid.

"Woah. Talk about family reunion." Micah said quietly taking in all of his surroundings.

Lucifer looked shocked and scared. "You ready to die Lucifer?" Harry asked, this time Harry being the smug one.

"Lucifer?" Lucifer questioned confused.

"That's right." Harry said smiling.

Lucifer stood there wide-eyed and then started to scramble around trying to hide behind his men.

"Wands at the ready!" Moody commanded raising his own wand.

Everyone followed suit, and then Harry shouted out "Fire!" Spells were being shot from every direction; the minions were losing this battle fast. Harry ran up and started fighting along side of Sirius. "Long time no see Black!" Harry shouted taking down a minion in the process.

"Touché." Sirius replied back blasting away an attacker. "Come on Harry, cover me!" Sirius shouted.

Harry did as he was told and fired spells off at black-cloaked men. After a while with fighting by Sirius he helped Neville, Dean, Luna, and Ginny with their group of attackers. Then finally he moved to be by the sides of Hermione and Ron. "Ron! What are you doing here?" Harry questioned, covering Hermione's back from a rouge spell.

"I decided to come and help! Minister Wolf came by frantically pleading everyone to come help out, so of course I jumped to that opportunity." Ron said.

"Well good to have you back Ron!" Harry yelled back.

"Good to be back!" Ron answered smiling as he knocked out his opponent.

Harry gave Ron and Hermione thumbs up and then left to go help Draco. Draco was in a heated fight with Rex. "You will die you worthless blood traitor!" Rex scowled trying to find a spot to hit Draco.

"Funny that's what I used to call people!" Draco answered then he blasted Rex off his feet into a window.

"Nice one." Harry said running up to his blonde friend.

"Thanks you know it's all in how you-" Draco started but then was cut off by a sickening voice behind them.

"You ready to die Potter?" Lucifer asked. "Cause your going to get what's coming for you!"

Harry let out a small chuckle. "It's funny how many times you've told me that today but it hasn't happened."

Lucifer let out a growl. "_Avada Kadarva!_" Lucifer shouted out of anger, his scar lighting up as he did so.

Both boys avoided the curse, and then something caught Harry's eye. Up above them right above Lucifer hung a huge stone statue of a house elf. Harry motioned with his eyes to Draco what he saw and when Draco caught sight of it he got what Harry was trying to say. Harry counted down in his head then he and Draco jumped out of their hiding places and shot a Reducto curse towards the statue. The stone instantly cracked and the whole thing fell from the ceiling. Lucifer looked up at the falling statue and tried to escape but Jack and Mary came up and froze him to his spot. Two seconds later the statue hit Lucifer killing him instantly.

The whole room went silent. All of Lucifer's men immediately dropped their wands and surrendered. The rest of the teams started cheering and laughing in relief. The great 'Lucifer' was finally dead.

Harry looked down over by where Kyle and sacrificed his life. He was still their laying there helplessly but he had his smile on his face and now Harry knew why. Kyle knew they were going to win. And they did.

Ellie ran to Draco excitingly. "Draco you did it!"

"Yeah well it was noth-"

Before Draco could finish his sentence Ellie kissed him. Draco stared at her. "Now that's a nice feeling." He gasped.

Hermione ran up into Harry's arms and kissed him. "Harry I'm so glad you won!"

Harry smiled and stared at his girlfriend. "Hermione we all won, and we definitely couldn't do it without you." Harry said happily. Then he brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and wiped off some blood from her cheek. "Hermione I love you." He whispered lovingly.

Hermione beamed up at him. "Oh Harry I love you to!" Then she attacked him again with her lips.

And all was well for now, well that is until the next year, but you all know what happens then.

_~*~*~*Memory for those who died~*~*~*_

_Joe- A big black gruff man with a soft heart and dear to everyone, also a great Quidditch player, died saving Ginny, he will be honored for his actions. R.I.P._

_Devon- Even though he was only a school project baby he will be deeply missed by everyone. R.I.P._

_Mr. Beck- Cody and Ellie's grandfather, died to the hands of Lucifer and Phoebe. He was a great strong man capable of anything though he will be truly missed. R.I.P._

_Grace- not mentioned that she died in the story, but was shot by a killing curse defending Sirius Black. She is honored with high honors. R.I.P._

_Kyle- most memorable death; will be truly missed, his dieing wish was for Harry to kick Lucifer and Voldemort's assess, and it came true. Was proud to die for his country. Sacrificed himself to save his best friend. Did what he could to protect everyone. Will be deeply missed, but will be honored with the Medal of Honor (without the muggles knowing how he truly died of course) R.I.P._

_Brody Hawk (Lucifer)- Eh, who cares._

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**Wow, I can't believe I'm actually done with this story… kind of. I will be posting an epilogue later clearing up any missed details and saying what happened with everyone's lives. Honestly I got emotional when I wrote about Kyle's death, which is weird for me… Anyway please review telling me what your favorite part or parts in this story was. And thanks for reading peoples! –SR7**


	27. Epilogue

**Sadly this is officially the last chapter, and it's not really a 'story part' it's just more like a filler for all the years I didn't cover in the other chapters. So please enjoy this epilogue! Thanks! –SR7**

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Directly after the battle in the ministry the remaining minions and followers surrendered their wands and weapons. Each one was put on a trial, some did walk away free men, but as for others, they were sent to Azkaban. Phoebe had a lifetime sentence, along with Pore, and they didn't take it well. So the Dementers definitely enjoyed their presence.

As for the students, they all went back to Duraflame. Heffner was appointed his job back and the three recently captive professors went right back into teaching. Little Sophie and her friends did well defending themselves and the castle against Pore and his few men, Sophie was all smiles when the older kids returned. The students also got to see their babies again; Hermione was especially emotional when she was reunited with Taylor, but who could blame her?

Dumbledore found information about a prophecy between Harry and Voldemort and was immediately on the case, with Harry helping of course. By the end of the school year each couple had to hand in their baby so they could be transformed back into a doll, Harry had to basically pry Taylor from Hermione's arms in order to do this.

Then there was an exceptionally emotional goodbye once the Hogwarts students were supposed to leave. The Duraflame students promised to write and stay in touch with their new friends and to visit when then can. Draco and Ellie had a heart to heart before everyone departed, Harry was still curious on what they said to each other, but decided not to ask because it seemed personal.

Hogwarts was rebuilt to a new stronger foundation, it was simply magnificent and a joy to be in. Overt the rest of the school years Harry and Hermione's relationship grew stronger, as well was their relationship with Draco. They all stayed best friends, Ron on the other hand wasn't as close to them anymore, but was still considered a friend.

Harry defeated Voldemort his seventh year causing celebration throughout the wizarding world, proving that Harry Potter was one of the greatest wizards who ever lived.

_Afterwards…_

_**~*~*~* Harry and Hermione~*~*~***_

Harry and Hermione did in fact end up married. Harry proposed to her while both were on vacation in France. It was a beautiful proposal and definitely one to be remembered. They were married seven months later in an open field at sunset. Draco was Harry's best man and Ginny was Hermione's maid of honor since Hermione's cousin was unable to attend the ceremony.

Harry got his dream job in the Auror department fighting criminals and serving justice. The Aurors never had a better captain then Harry in a long time. Hermione became really interested in the field of medicine, becoming a healer. She worked in St. Mungo's three days a week in the intense injuries department. Saving many lives… that's how she liked to see things.

The couple claimed one of Harry's parent's mansions in Wales. Turns out Lily and James left a lot more then a few Galleon's for Harry.

They also had two wonderful children. Their first-born was a handsome baby boy with light brown hair, green eyes, freckles, and even though he was small, he was mighty strong. The couple named him Kyle, after their friend they had lost in the battle at the ministry. Their second child was an eccentric little girl, she had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, a cute little nose, and poor eye sight. Fortunately in this time contacts were being used more often so as soon as she was old enough she used them instead of glasses, her name was Sophie. After the little girl in Duraflame that was brave and strong.

Kyle and Sophie attended a muggle elementary school until they received their letters to Hogwarts, immediately Kyle got ready, exciting himself a bit to much. Then the following year Sophie did the same.

Harry and Hermione never stopped loving each other; they stayed with each other through thick and thin and loved each other through it all. They were truly a fascinating love story.

_**~*~*~*Draco and Ellie~*~*~***_

After Hogwarts Draco left for America, he and Ellie promised each other that they would wait and see if they still had feelings for each other when Draco was gone. So Draco was ecstatic when Ellie ran into his arms on the beach right outside the Duraflame castle. They were married soon after that not wanting to wait. The ceremony was quiet, only inviting close friends and family, Harry being the best man and Hermione being the maid of honor. And Cody finally accepted Draco as his brother-in-law.

Ellie not really wanting to move all the way over to Europe persuaded Draco to stay in America to start their lives, only with the deal that they would send their kids to Hogwarts when the time comes. So they built a mansion in Virginia, so Draco could be close to the ministry. Draco was also an Auror working for both the Americans and the British, but he loved working for both of them so it never was too much for him to handle. Ellie got a job being a teacher at a new school for grade school kids, but it wasn't a muggle school, it was a pre-Duraflame (or any other wizarding school) education. Parents and students found this more useful then keeping their children at home.

Draco and Ellie had one child, a baby boy named Max. He was a troublemaker growing up, but he had many friends including his best friend Kyle. They attended Hogwarts together being best friends, and became the marauders part 3.

When Ellie was 80 years old she got cancer and died leaving Draco heart broken. He died five years later being buried next to his beautiful wife.

_**~*~*~*Cody and Cho~*~*~***_

A couple years after school Cody and Cho ran into each other during a trip to Spain. They hit it off, again, with Cody admitting his feelings towards her. Cho was smiling at Cody's confession and told him that she returned the feelings. They got married four years later, with Cho having a twins two years after that. They had two girls, they named them Justine and Victoria because they thought that these names were elegant and beautiful, which they are.

Cody stayed close with Harry and Draco, but he and his three other friends Seth, David, and Darrick were still inseparable. They would hang out every week with their wives and goof off being fun and wild. But this was normal behavior considering who they were.

_**~*~*~*Mary and Jack/Chris~*~*~***_

This was probably the only love story that didn't last. After Hogwarts Mary and Jack broke up when Mary caught Jack cheating. She was beyond mad with him, so she completely moved away from England and moved to Washington D.C. There she met up with the innkeeper Chris again. After he asked her out she was quick to say yes. They were one of those couples that were always sweet with each other doing the cliché romantic things every once in a while.

Jack realized what he did was wrong after Mary left, but it was to late to apologize once he heard about her and Chris. He moved on from his lifelong best friend and started dating a half veela, they were happy together; at least that's what everyone assumed.

_**~*~*~*Ron and Lavender~*~*~***_

These two hooked up during sixth year and never broke up after that. They got married and had five children continuing the Weasley strand of big families. After Devon's death in fifth year Lavender was hesitant of having any more kids but after some long talks with the family they got her to change her mind. Mrs. Weasley was desperate for grandchildren.

Ron and Lavender were going strong but Ginny never kept a steady boyfriend. She never got married but she adopted a little girl from China so she could experience motherhood. Ron and Lavender helped her a lot and were always inviting her over to their flat.

Everyone else in the Harry Potter group of people had fairly good lives Micah did become very good friends with Draco and worked with him in the Auror department. These people's lives were very unique but most of these people are the best-known people in the muggle and wizarding world…

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**THE END! Well that's it, so there's something I have to say… The heroes, the legacy, the drama! Haha sorry but I had to do that :). So if any of you are interested I will be writing a new story called _The Wingman_ soon…. Dun dun dun! Sorry I can't tell ya anything about it yet, but if you keep an eye out hopefully you'll find it :). Thanks for all of you that has read this story from the beginning. This is my first fanfiction story so I know it isn't the best, but still thanks for reading it, it means a lot! So please drop a review off on your way out! –SR7**


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